Overview
Dynamic Bus Information System has been successively built for counties and cities throughout Taiwan. It provides convenience functions such as real-time vehicle dynamics and transparency of bus information, etc. The system has been well received by public. However, the progress of intercity bus information system is lagging far behind due to the wider service range and far less frequent intervals of intercity bus, some routes even reaching mountains and rural area. Therefore, only a few bus operators have built Dynamic Bus Information System so far.
In order to improve the situation, the Highway Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communication (hereinafter referred to as the HB) plans to extend the smart-bus idea to nationwide bus operators, assigning Taipei Motor Vehicle Office to implement “Dynamic Bus Information System for Rural Areas (hereafter referred to as the system)”. The construction plan of the system aims to assist the vehicle supervisory authority in fully and immediately mastering the operation status of intercity bus, assist the bus operators managing fleet well, and provide passengers the correct information about intercity bus.
Goal
The highway and passenger transportation supervision business originally adopted paper-based documentation and was supplemented by the 'second-generation highway supervision system' as the operating basis. However, because the second-generation highway supervision system has no graphical interface and its expansion is more limited, Taipei Motor Vehicle Office In 2007, the 'National Highway and General Highway Passenger Transport Information Inquiry System' was established to digitize the management of operating routes, stations, fares, schedules, and operating vehicles in the form of GIS and Web pages. After the system was completed and launched at the beginning of 2009, all changes in the operating information of passenger operators should be reported and revised through the 'National Highway and General Highway Passenger Transport Information Inquiry System' using standard operating procedures.
In 2010, the HB established the "Dynamic Bus Information System". In the initial stage, it only provided passengers intercity bus information, and then added 15 county/city government urban bus services in 2016, to promote the benefits of public transportation. According to the management system and the practical characteristics of the intercity transportation, intercity buses and tourist buses have their own operating characteristics, but existing some overlaps. For example, tourist buses can support intercity buses during the dredging period. Intercity buses can serve as chartered bus rental within certain operating route. In view of this feature, "Dynamic Bus Information System" should not only integrate intercity and general highway transportation information and real-time service, but also expand the management scope to highway car passenger transportation. Therefore, in 2019, HB strengthened the functions of the system and expanded its performance to manage the transportation business well. It also revises the APP and webpage service. The specific development goals include (1) consolidate the management of local bus companies, (2) to provide real-time information on public bus transportation, and (3) to offer more efficient fleet management.
Effectively implement the highway car passenger transport supervision business
According to the provisions of the Highway Law, the management rules of the automobile transportation industry, the regulations for the development of mass transportation, and other related laws and regulations, there are many projects for highway supervision agencies, including those related to 'road passenger transportation industry' and 'tourist passenger transportation industry', including operating routes (region), Shifts, vehicles, subsidy checks, speed limit road management, driver qualifications, etc.. These businesses have a huge impact on people's safety and rights and have always been listed as key work items. At present, these operations are limited by the manpower and material resources of highway supervision agencies. They are still based on manual audits and paper operations, which are inefficient and difficult to manage.
In recent years, due to the drastic changes in the overall transportation environment, in order to improve the operating market, the government has actively strengthened the safety management of the automobile transportation industry and given subsidies. With the combination of many measures, the business volume of highway supervision has increased sharply, but the supervision institutions' investment in human, material and financial resources has not increased relatively. At the same time, with the development of information technology, the public's need for knowledge of transportation is more urgent.
HB is eager to plan for the construction of an intelligent transportation system to solve the dilemma of insufficient resources. First, in 1996, the Taipei District Supervision Office first set up a 'National Highway and General Highway Passenger Transport Information Inquiry System' to summarize, integrate and integrate some of the highway automotive passenger transport operations such as operating routes, fares, stations and timetables. Digitization to improve management efficiency and strengthen system operation functions. The main goal of this plan is to upgrade static management to dynamic management.
According to the provisions of Article 34 of the Highway Law, the highway passenger transportation industry refers to 'in the approved routes, buses transport passengers as business operators.' There are currently 55 highway passenger transportation operators in the country, and there are about 1,300 national highways and general passenger routes. The scale is huge. The plan is under the jurisdiction of the HB, and coordinates the needs and opinions of Taipei Motor Vehicles Office, Hsinchu Motor Vehicles Office, Taichung Motor Vehicles Office, Chiayi Motor Vehicles Office, Kaohsiung Motor Vehicles Office, Kaohsiung City Motor Vehicles Office, and other government agencies. The establishment of this system hopes that through the system's dynamic management function, it will be able to grasp the operating vehicle dynamics of the highway automobile passenger transportation industry in real time and effectively, and then strengthen the management of its operating routes, shifts, stops, subsidies, service quality and other items.
Article 34 of the Highway Law also stipulates that the tourist bus passenger industry refers to 'in the approved area, the passengers are carried by the rental of tour coaches and charters.' From the perspective of operation and management, according to the provisions of Article 84 and Article 85-1 of the automobile transportation industry management rules, tour car operators can still operate transportation vehicles and supporIn order to improve the situationt shuttle services. The nature of the operation is more complicated. For the first time, it will implement the dynamic management of tour buses for 30 road passenger transport operators who also operate the tour bus passenger transport industry, which will effectively grasp the real-time dynamics of tour bus operations (including drivers), and prevent the illegal operation of tour bus operations by tour buses. If the trial situation is good, it is planned to continue to promote the management of all tour buses in the country in the future.
Provide real-time information on public road car passenger transportation
In recent years, social and economic activities have become more active, and people’s demand for transportation information has become more urgent. In order to satisfy the public's right to know, the 'National Highway and General Highway Passenger Transport Information Inquiry System' was completed in early 2009, and the public will be able to inquire the route, station, timetable, frequency, and fare of highway passenger transportation via the Internet. … And so on. In the future, it is hoped that through the establishment of this system, the public query function will be upgraded from 'static query' to 'dynamic query', and a variety of query channels will be provided. The public can master the highway bus passenger bus through Internet, mobile phones and telephones and other query methods. Real-time operating conditions serve as a reference for travel planning and save waiting time and reduce social costs. At the same time, it is hoped that through the transparency of information, the public's willingness to use mass transit vehicles will be increased, and the utilization rate of mass transit vehicles will be increased, so as to implement the development strategy based on mass transit and achieve the goal of 'energy conservation and carbon reduction.
Provide passenger operators with effective fleet management
The scale of highway car passenger fleet is large. This system integrates GIS, GPS, GPRS (or more advanced communication technology) to provide real-time dynamic information of the fleet, as an internal information management system for passenger operators. The passenger operator can fully understand whether the driver has improper operation behavior as a reference for education and training, and can effectively implement fuel management and reduce operating costs; in the case of traffic congestion, mobile dispatch can be implemented; in emergency situations Crisis management is available immediately.
For those who also operate the tour bus passenger transportation industry, through the establishment of this system, they can effectively grasp the real-time dynamics of their tour fleets, strengthen management, implement the responsibility system for their vehicle and personnel management, and achieve the goal of sound development of the tour bus business.