A coalition of city and county governments serving deprived communities across San Mateo County and East Palo Alto in California have completed a pilot of intelligent transit signal prioritisation across their communities. The pilot project reports improved public transit performance across the cooperating communities in the East Palo Alto region, providing greater mobility for zero-vehicle households.

The transit signal prioritisation pilot, which employed technology from LYT, achieved an improvement in transit bus flow along one of the region’s busiest corridors

Efficiency of local transit has a direct impact on transit dependent communities such as East Palo Alto which is designated as an Equity Priority Community in part due to the number of Zero-Vehicle Households: 9% have no vehicle, as compared to 6% county-wide. Before the Intelligent Traffic Signal Prioritisation (iTSP) pilot, buses stopped at traffic signals 70% of the time. With iTSP technology deployed at key traffic intersections, the pilot has demonstrated that buses spent less time idling and got riders to their destinations faster and more efficiently.

For the pilot project, the coalition deployed LYT’s Artificial Intelligence-powered Transit Signal Priority (TSP) technology on a corridor consisting of four signalised intersections in East Palo Alto.

Delays on traffic intersections were cut by up to 45 percent during the pilot. This translated to reductions in overall travel times by up to 18 percent.

With over $178,000 of funding from City/County Association of Governments of San Mateo County (C/CAG), Sustainable Silicon Valley (SSV) formed a coalition of public and private stakeholders including San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans), City of East Palo Alto and LYT, to deliver intelligent transit priority along congested arteries in transit-dependent communities. The City of East Palo Alto is a place where such improvements in transit speed and reliability are most needed and can potentially improve the quality of life for residents.

“Our solutions keep transit vehicles moving for a more reliable and consistent rider experience, while minimising the impact to other road users. Better transit helps to build better communities and increases the quality of life for all residents. We’re excited about the results we saw during our pilot in one of the area’s most congested corridors,” said Tim Menard, CEO and Founder of LYT. “Traffic management systems driven by Artificial Intelligence and machine learning principles are now benefitting entire regions and transforming cities into places where people can live, work, and move more freely.” 

The ability to evaluate new technologies in a real world context is key to understanding how these systems will perform and scale. “We want to keep transit on the cutting edge of the latest technology,” said SamTrans Board Chair Pete Ratto.”iTSP has shown itself to be a great tool in accomplishing that goal.”

A sustainable approach to technology deployment is also key to unlocking value for the long term. “Reliable transit is essential for our community as East Palo Alto residents currently own cars at a much lower rate than the county average. LYT’s pilot helped demonstrate the feasibility of implementing a transit signal priority system in East Palo Alto that benefits our community and can be beneficial across jurisdictions,” said Lisa Gauthier, East Palo Alto Vice Mayor and C/CAG Board Member. 

Developing and maintaining partnerships with local communities, agencies and non-profits allows rapid identification, evaluation and funding of worthwhile projects. “C/CAG is excited about this project, as it serves as another strong example of what’s possible when you merge creative and collaborative problem solving with technology,” said Davina Hurt, Belmont City Councilmember and Chair of the C/CAG Board. “C/CAG is committed to supporting nimble pilot projects, and leverages those lessons learned to help advance the county’s mobility and clean air goals.” 

Bringing cities, agencies and tech together around some of the big challenges facing under-represented communities is itself a powerful tool. “SSV is recognised for creating unique partnerships and we are pleased to identify a solution for a systemic transit issue in East Palo Alto with LYT’s innovative technology and introduce SamTrans to an AI-powered TSP solution that scales for for wider deployment,” said SSV Board Chair Andrew (Drew) Clark.