TRAVEL TIME AND DELAY STUDIES

Travel time is the time required to

travel from one point to another on a
given route.
Time taken by a vehicle to traverse a
given section of a highway.
TRAVEL TIME AND DELAY
STUDIES
Travel time is a popular performance
measure, for several reasons
Can compare across different modes
(e.g., bus, train, car)
Easy to work with
mathematically/statistically
Easy to understand by traveling
public
Applications of Travel Time
and Delay Data
Applications of Travel Time
and Delay Data
efficiency of a route
locations with relatively high delays
causes for delays
before-and-after studies
relative efficiency of a route
travel times on specific links
economic studies
Defining Terms
 Delay
Stopped Time Delay: time a
vehicle stopped waiting to
pass the intersection.

Approach Delay:
stopped time +
acceleration + deceleration

Travel Time Delay: (actual

travel time-desired travel
time)
Methods for Conducting Travel
Time and Delay Studies
Methods Requiring a Test Vehicle
Floating-car
Average-speed
Moving-vehicle techniques
Methods Not Requiring a Test Vehicle
License-Plate Observations
Interviews
ITS Advanced Technologies
Cell phones
GPS satellite system
 Methods for Conducting Travel Time and Delay Studies

Floating-Car Technique:
test car is driven by an observer along the
test section.
The driver attempts to pass as many
vehicles as those that pass his test vehicle.
Time taken to traverse the study section is
recorded. This is repeated, and the average
time is recorded as the travel time.
sample size s usually less than 30
 Methods for Conducting Travel
Time and Delay Studies
Average-Speed Technique
driving the test car along the length of the test
section at a speed that is the average speed of the
traffic stream.
time required to traverse the test section is noted.
test run is repeated , the average time is recorded
as the travel time.
the observer starts a stopwatch at the beginning
point of the test section and stops at the end
A second stopwatch also may be used to
determine the time that passes each time the
vehicle is stopped.
will give the stopped-time delay
Speed and Delay
Information
 Methods for Conducting Travel
Time and Delay Studies
Moving-Vehicle Technique
the observer makes a round trip on a test
section
The observer starts at section X-X, drives
the car eastward to section Y-Y,
turns the vehicle around, drives westward
to section X-X again
five pieces of information: Te, Tw, Ne, Ow,
and Pw
 The time it takes to travel east from X-X to Y-Y (Te),
in minutes
The time it takes to travel west from Y-Y to X-X
(Tw), in minutes
The number of vehicles traveling west in the
opposite lane while the test car is traveling east
(Ne)
The number of vehicles that overtake the test car
while it is traveling west from Y-Y to X-X, that is,
traveling in the westbound direction (Ow)
The number of vehicles that the test car passes
while it is traveling west from Y-Y to X-X, that is,
traveling in the westbound direction (Pw)
 The volume in the west and east
bound direction

The average travel time in the

west and east bound direction
Methods for Conducting Travel
Time and Delay Studies
Methods for Conducting Travel
Time and Delay Studies
 License plate matching
License plate matching
relies on video signal
processing algorithms to
extract the license number
of vehicles passing at each
detection point.

Travel time between two

locations is then obtained by
simply calculating the time
difference between detection
records for the same vehicle
at the two locations.
 Cellular Geolocation Tracking
Cellular geolocation is an emerging technique that is still
currently under testing and which attempts to take
advantage of the fact that all cell phones are now required
being equipped with a GPS locator to determine their
position at all times.

By tracking the location of active cell phones on a second-by-

second basis, it is then possible to determine whether the
cell phone is likely to be in a vehicle, and if so, the position
and speed of the vehicle in which the phone is located.

If a large enough sample is obtained, estimates of average

travel times on the roadway segment being monitored could
then be developed.
Global Positioning System (GPS)

GPS Time
Latitude and Longitude
Speed
Sensor Types, Data, and Example Sensor