Schedule Adherence or On Time Performance (OTP) measures how successful the provided service is at adhering to the scheduled service. The metrics are related to other system calculations such as Dwell Time and Running Time.
The system collects the following information to calculate schedule adherence:
- Trigger box entry time.
- Each time the vehicle becomes stationary.
- Each time either door is opened.
- Each time either door is closed.
- Each time the vehicle moves after being stationary.
- Trigger box depart time.
The In-Vehicle System
The in-vehicle system uses the data to determine which of the following scenarios occurred and, therefore, how to calculate the arrival and departure times leveraged for schedule adherence.
Scenario 1
The vehicle does not stop within the stop’s trigger box. This scenario is common at stops that are not published timepoints and when there are no riders boarding and alighting.
Stops that are not published timepoints are already excluded from schedule adherence calculation.
Scenario 2
The vehicle stops within the stop’s trigger box but does not open either door. This scenario is ambiguous because the vehicle can stop and start multiple times within the trigger box. The vehicle might be stopped at a traffic signal. In this case, the in-vehicle system uses the departure of the final stationary period in the trigger box for the final departure and reports that time for schedule adherence calculation.
Scenario 3
The vehicle stops within the stop’s trigger box and opens either door. This scenario is the most complex because the vehicle can stop and start and open and close the doors multiple times within the trigger box. In this case, the in-vehicle system calculates the departure time as follows:
- The departure is captured the first time the vehicle begins moving after the operator closes the door for the final time in the trigger box. The operator closing the door for the last time tells the in-vehicle system which of the multiple vehicle starts to use for the departure time. However, the departure time is committed when the vehicle begins moving rather than when the door closes. Because the system uses the first movement after the final door close for the departure time, if the operator closes the door, moves the vehicle, and then stops but does not re-open the door, it does not recalculate the departure time.
myAvail Schedule Adherence Data
The myAvail system compares departure data from the in-vehicle system to scheduled service departure data imported from your agency’s scheduling vendor. Schedule adherence is a sampled metric with departures that have not been validated being excluded from the sample.
The data received from the in-vehicle system is transferred into Avail’s Data Warehouse for reporting. This process transforms the individual in-vehicle data reports into origin and destination segments to be compared to the scheduled data.
myAvail Schedule Adherence Reporting
The myAvail Business Intelligence platform offers a variety of schedule adherence reports. These reports can be run for either departure or arrival data points to meet the standard metrics for your agency. The on-time analysis by departure reporting provides the highest granularity of data and configurability, the examples below are taken from that report.
For more information on how to configure the schedule adherence parameters on your system or within this report see the On-time Analysis by Departure article.
Calculation Methods
You can select the Calculation Method in the drop-down: Vehicle Detection or Trigger Box Exit.
Vehicle Detection: The Vehicle Detection indicates the departure time is set as the first time the bus moved after the last time the door closed.
Trigger Box Departure: The Trigger Box Exit indicates the departure time is set when the bus departs the trigger box.
- Missed Departures: An origin-destination timepoint segment from the schedule cannot be matched to a completed origin-destination segment from the in-vehicle system.
- Early Outlier Departures: An origin-destination timepoint segment from the schedule has been matched to a completed origin-destination segment from the in-vehicle system. The departure occurred a defined number of minutes ahead of the scheduled departure.
- Late Outlier Departures: An origin-destination timepoint segment from the schedule has been matched to a completed origin-destination segment from the in-vehicle system. The departure occurred a defined number of minutes after the scheduled departure.
- Early Departures: An origin-destination timepoint segment from the schedule has been matched to a completed origin-destination segment from the in-vehicle system. The departure occurred a defined number of minutes ahead of the scheduled departure.
- Late Departures: An origin-destination timepoint segment from the schedule has been matched to a completed origin-destination segment from the in-vehicle system. The departure occurred a defined number of minutes after the scheduled departure.
- On-time Departures: An origin-destination timepoint segment from the schedule has been matched to a completed origin-destination segment from the in-vehicle system. The departure occurred a defined number of minutes within the scheduled departure window.