The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), which is the metropolitan planning organization for the San Francisco Bay Area, manages the planning, financing and coordination of transportation for the 7.44 million people living in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.
Since 2002, MTC has collected traffic data for this region, allowing drivers and public agencies to access traffic information. Over the years, MTC’s data collection methods progressed from sole reliance on Caltrans road sensors, to a combination of road sensors, radar and electronic toll-tag readers. Despite this evolution, MTC still had gaps in coverage as well as increasing costs of maintenance.
Challenge
MTC needed a new data source to minimize costs, and to improve the overall coverage, and accuracy of traffic information on Bay Area roadways. Following a competitive procurement process for new solutions, MTC selected INRIX Real-Time and Historic traffic information as well as INRIX Analytics.
Solution
After evaluating 455 hours of data for selected corridors, MTC found INRIX data met the requirements for accuracy, cost, and coverage. Through its contractor, MTC procured INRIX Real-Time traffic information and INRIX Analytics for 2013-2015, as well as INRIX Historical archive data for 2010, 2011 and 2013.
INRIX Real-Time Traffic Flow is a full suite of traffic data, which is available as often as once per minute. This allows MTC to monitor live traffic data including roadway name, time, current speed, typical speed and travel time.
INRIX Historical Traffic Flow uses billions of comprehensive data points to provide true historical average speeds on individual road segments. MTC and its partner agencies also use INRIX Analytics tools to monitor, manage, and measure the performance of the Bay Area highway network by displaying the data in an easy to read dashboard.
Results
INRIX improved MTC’s traffic coverage and data quality at a significant cost savings. Specifications include:
- Saved MTC over $250,000 per year in direct data collection and contractor costs.
- Provided MTC the opportunity to increase its 511 traffic coverage. Currently MTC is adding more than 500 miles of coverage to its 511 system, increasing from 1,600 to 2,100 centerline miles.
- Eliminated the operational headaches associated with field data collection devices.
- Guaranteed an uptime of over 99.5% providing users with traffic updates 24/7.
- Translated the TMC-based real-time feed into MTC’s proprietary 511 network, making it available on 511.org, m.511.org, and on the 511 IVR-based phone system, which allows users to easily access real- time traffic information and updates.
- Allowed MTC to share the data with its public agency partners at no additional cost. Partners include the Alameda County Transportation Commission, Caltrans, City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County , City of San Jose, Napa County Transportation and Planning Agency, San Francisco County Transportation Authority, and Santa Clara County
