Our team of experienced transit industry leaders has published extensively on key aspects of transportation, especially as it relates to data analytics, project planning, and operations improvements. Explore this page to read abstracts of some of our leadership's most cited publications, and contact us if you want more information about any of our publication.
Authors: Adam Caspari, Daniel Wood, Angel Campbell, Darian Jefferson, Tuan Huynh, Alla Reddy
Abstract:New York City Transit operates one of the world’s largest transit systems, and it can be difficult for the agency’s communications team to keep track of the numerous service disruptions that need to be communicated to customers. This paper introduces the Transit Visualization tool, which processes real-time train location data to automatically identify areas of […]
Authors: Anne Halvorsen, Darian Jefferson, Daniel Wood, Jack Hui, Timon Stasko, Alla Reddy
Abstract:The New York City metropolitan area was hard hit by COVID-19, and the pandemic brought with it unprecedented challenges for New York City Transit. This paper addresses techniques used to estimate dramatically changing ridership, at a time when previously dependable sources suddenly became unavailable (e.g., local bus payment data, manual field checks). The paper describes […]
Authors: Shay Lehmann, Alla Reddy, Chan Samsundar, Tuan Huynh
Abstract:Like any legacy subway system that first opened in the early 1900s, the New York City subway system operates using technology that dates from many different eras. Although some of this technology may be outdated, efforts to modernize are often hindered by budgetary limits, competing priorities, and managing the tradeoff between short-term service disruptions and […]
Authors: Anne Halvorsen, Darian Jefferson, Timon Stasko, Alla Reddy
Abstract:Knowledge of the root cause(s) of delays in transit networks has obvious value; it can be used to direct resources toward mitigation efforts and measure the effectiveness of those efforts. However, delays with indirect causes can be difficult to attribute, and may be assigned to broad categories that indicate “overcrowding,” incorrectly naming heavy ridership, train […]
Authors: Edward Graves, Sunny Zheng, Lauren Tarte, Brian Levine, Alla Reddy
Abstract:As data collection for public transportation improves and customers’ appetite for information grows, there has been a growing interest in performance measurement systems that better reflect customer experience and quantify the impacts of service while accounting for ridership. A fair amount of research has been dedicated to developing and refining these kinds of metrics, with […]
Authors: Anne Halvorsen, Daniel Wood, Timon Stasko, Darian Jefferson, Alla Reddy
Abstract:Like many transit agencies, New York City Transit (NYCT) has long relied on operations-focused metrics to measure its performance. Although these metrics, such as capacity provided and terminal on-time performance, are useful internally to indicate the actions needed to improve service, they typically do not represent the customer experience. To improve its transparency and public […]
Authors: Malik Coleman, Lauren Tarte, Steve Chau, Brian Levine, Alla Reddy
Abstract:Over two million trips are taken every weekday across the New York City Transit (NYCT) bus network. Revising the schedules for each of these routes is a labor-intensive process, and because of limited resources, fewer than half of all routes are examined each year. Traditionally, schedules have been revised on a first-in, first-out basis, with […]
Authors: Daniel Wood, Timon Stasko, Lauren Tarte, Darian Jefferson, Alla Reddy
Abstract:With ridership near modern highs, New York City Transit’s (NYCT) subway network frequently operates at or near capacity. This makes maintaining a high-quality service both challenging, due to the lack of “slack,” and exceptionally important, due to the large number of riders affected by disruptions. To this end, train dispatchers constantly monitor the network and […]
Authors: Adam Caspari, Brian Levine, Jeffrey Hanft, Alla Reddy
Abstract:Amid significant increases in ridership (9.8% over the past 5 years) on the more than 100 year-old New York City Transit (NYCT) subway system, NYCT has become aware of increased crowding on station platforms. Because of limited platform capacity, platforms become crowded even during minor service disruptions. A real-time model was developed to estimate crowding […]
Authors: Jeffrey Hanft, Shrisan Iyer, Brian Levine, Alla Reddy
Abstract:The installation of an Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) system alongside existing Automated Fare Collection (AFC) data spurred development of an inferred bus boarding and alighting ridership model at New York City Transit (NYCT), allowing for 100% passenger origin-destination (O-D) data citywide. Analysis techniques that relied primarily on professional judgment due to lack of data were […]
