Benefits and Costs

• Kansas City achieved reduced incident-response time, from 7-15 to 2-3 minutes, with use of AVL.
• San Jose reduced paratransit expenditures from $4.88 to $3.72 per passenger trip.
• London (Ontario) saved $45,000 annually by eliminating manual schedule adherence checking.
• Sweetwater County, WY, almost doubled ridership without increasing dispatching staff by implementing AVL and CADS. Operating expenses decreased 50% per passenger mile.
• AVL and CADS allowed St. John's County Council on Aging in Augustine, FL, to reduce its scheduling, dispatching, and billing staff by half. Trips per vehicle hour have increased from 0.5 to 2.5.
• Collects driver log for use by payroll and passenger information for billing.

Onboard GPS equipment ranges from $500 to $2,000 per vehicle; complete implementation costs (including control center hardware, installation, and training) range from $ 4,000 to $10,000 per vehicle. Required upgrades to communications systems can add significant costs. Additional ITS applications (CADS, real-time traveler information systems, automatic passenger counters (APC), automatic fare cards (AFC), video surveillance, silent alarms) are not included in these costs.

AVL alone provides limited operational savings. It facilitates communications and reporting and can improve systems planning. More significant savings are seen with the addition of CADS, which provides the ability to serve more customers with existing resources. Additional technology specialists are often needed to develop, manage, and maintain ITS systems. Consultants and manufacturers can provide some technical assistance, but in-house staff are more effective for all but the smallest agencies.