|
2. TRANSIT SERVICES TECHNOLOGY
REVIEW: STATUS REPORT RAPPORT
D’ÉTAPE : EXAMEN DE LA TECHNOLOGIE DES SERVICES DE TRANSPORT EN COMMUN |
That Council receive this report for
information.
recommandation du comité
Documentation
1.
Deputy
City Manager, City Operations report dated 28 April 2010 (ACS2010-COS-ITS-0007).
2.
Information
Technology Sub-committee Extract of Draft Minutes of 17 May 2010.
Report to/Rapport au :
Information Technology Sub-Committee /
Sous-comité de la technologie de l’information
and / et
Transit Committee/
Comité des services de transport en commun
28 April 2010 / le 28 avril 2010
Submitted by/Soumis par:
Steve
Kanellakos, Deputy City Manager/Directeur municipal adjoint,
City Operations/Opérations
municipales
Contact Person/Personne ressource : David B. Johnston, Manager, Business
Technology Architecture/Gestionnaire architecture techno des entreprises
Information Technology Services/Services de technologie de l'information
(613) 580-2424 x21375,
david.johnston@ottawa.ca
|
SUBJECT: |
|
|
OBJET: |
RAPPORT D’ÉTAPE : EXAMEN DE LA TECHNOLOGIE DES
SERVICES DE TRANSPORT EN COMMUN |
That the Information Technology Sub-Committee and the
Transit Committee receive this report for information.
During the summer and fall of 2009, Transit Services identified a need to review all its IT investments to confirm their alignment with the current business direction and priorities, and to position them within a broader technology plan.
The Deputy City Manager, Infrastructure & Community Sustainability, requested IT Services to undertake a review of Transit IT projects, and to develop a multi-year Transit Technology Roadmap to guide Transit and Council on future technology investment decisions and to enable the service to more readily leverage future technology developments.
At
a regular meeting of the IT Subcommittee on March 1 2010, members were provided
with a status report on the Transit Technology Review, including preliminary
findings on 45+ technology projects, of which seven (7) priority projects were
proceeding.
Staff committed to providing further updates and a presentation to the IT Sub-committee once the review and Transit Technology Roadmap was complete.
ITS and Transit Services have been working closely over the past several months to ensure that current and planned technology investments align with Transit business priorities, and to ensure that they provide a solid foundation for the future.
At the IT Sub-Committee meeting on March 1, 2010, an initial list of seven (7) priority technology projects were identified, and all are complete or proceeding as planned.
Our analysis and review of the initial list of 45+ active/forecast technology projects and their alignment to Transit strategic priorities has also been completed.
Transit Services align their major business activities on seven priorities:
• Enhanced safety culture;
• Strengthened communications;
• Implementation of a culture of quality;
• Enhanced customer experience through service delivery
• Maintenance “Total Rebuild” (rethinking the way transit vehicles are purchased, serviced and maintained);
• Efficiency savings; and
• Improved accessibility.
All the major transit business activities that require an IT focus are in line with one or more of these seven priorities.
The implementation of the new Smart Bus technology aligns with the Transit priority of enhanced customer experience, by providing a platform to support the Presto Smartcard. The Smartcard is a new fare collection program that will offers increased flexibility and ease of use for customers, easier boarding of transit vehicles and easier fare enforcement. The Smart Bus technology also supports the accessibility priority by enabling the implementation of an automated system for visual and audio announcements of service stops across our entire network.
The maintenance “total rebuild” priority is supported by technology initiatives such as optimizing the FleetFocus (M5) product utilization and completing FleetFocus implementation across all business functions, streamlining the maintenance delivery model and rationalizing the infrastructure footprint.
The implementation of a quality culture is supported by technology initiatives such as the detailing of a Business Intelligence solution of performance analysis and the implementation of a performance indicator communication vehicle (dashboard) to track continuous improvement. Quick-wins that will provide concrete examples of what “quality is” include the implementation of improvements in the areas of floater run usage at ParaTranspo and the booking process. The quality culture priority also includes the introduction of an environmental fuel reduction modification program, featuring the installation of a modified electric fan and the implementation of the Smart Drivers training program. Quality will further be achieved through the design and implementation of an integrated training program for bus operators based on emerging technologies.
The customer experience priority will be achieved through the delivery of service excellence in reliability, convenience and every aspect of travelling. It is supported by a number of initiatives including the implementation of scheduling changes, the integration of actual bus travel times into schedules based on GPS-tracking information, and the implementation of connection management to reduce waiting time and uncertainty between bus services.
In support of the safety culture priority, initiatives that have an IT focus include the implementation of a Security System Management Strategy, featuring Closed Circuit Television and security equipment, the integration of a CAD/RMS system in special constables’ vehicles to the Ottawa Police Services system, enabling pro-active enforcement strategies and decreased on-street response time, the implementation of a Safety Management System with the documentation of policies and procedures to achieve regulatory compliance, and strengthening the CVOR-related reporting and analysis of collisions.
Finally, toward improving accessibility, Transit will make improvements to ParaTranspo service delivery through the analysis of its scheduling processes.
Details on each of the supporting IT projects will be described in more detail in the final report and Transit Technology Roadmap. Staff are in the process of consolidating the results of the analysis for presentation to the IT Sub-committee, including recommendations for Transit technology priorities covering the period 2010-2014.
There are no
specific rural implications associated with this report.
Staff
have worked closely with the Transit Services department in the development of
this information report.
COMMENTS BY THE WARD
COUNCILLOR(S)
N/A
CITY STRATEGIC PLAN
This
report is aligned with the City Strategic Plan priorities.
TECHNICAL IMPLICATIONS
This
information report has no additional Technology implications other than those
described in the report.
The
City Operations Department will action any direction received as part of
consideration of this report.
information
technology sub-committee extract of
draft Minutes 7 17 may 2010 |
|
sous-Comité de la technologie de l’information extrait de l’ébauche du Procès-verbal 7 - le 17 mai 2010 |
TRANSIT SERVICES TECHNOLOGY REVIEW:
STATUS REPORT RAPPORT D’ÉTAPE : EXAMEN DE
LA TECHNOLOGIE DES SERVICES DE TRANSPORT EN COMMUN
ACS2010-COS-ITS-0007 City Wide/à l'échelle de la Ville
Prior to beginning discussion on this item, Chair Wilkinson noted that the Coordinator had disseminated a corrected version of the report after the agenda was distributed.
David Johnston, Manager, Business Technology Architecture and Alain Mercier, General Manager, Transit Services provided a PowerPoint presentation, a copy of which is held on file. His presentation touched on background that led to the development of a multi-year Transit Technology Roadmap; the planned activities and their status; the seven Transit Business Priorities; technology programs (groupings of projects with common characteristics and business objectives), and business architecture. Staff anticipate finalization of the business architecture, technology initiatives, 5-year plan and supporting business case(s) by early June and a report back to the IT Sub-committee at its meeting of June 21.
In response to a request for clarification about the roadmap from Councillor El-Chantiry, Mr. Johnston noted that the illustration provided in the slides was conceptual at this point, the final format to be presented in June. He noted the final roadmap would show some of the supporting technology infrastructure that will be required, and some of the lifecycle renewal requirements associated with servers and legacy systems.
With respect to the seven priorities, Mr. Mercier clarified for Councillor El-Chantiry that enhanced safety culture is a major issue of focus in that safety elements are being implemented into almost every business process in Transit, but staff are focused on all seven priorities equally and in parallel. He added that one of the problems they have encountered in the past is the multitude of competing projects and priorities, so ITS and Transit staff are now working together to match up projects to business priorities and create a more efficient framework for the process. To that end, it would mean that any project not falling within one of the seven priorities would be put aside for later consideration.
Chair Wilkinson advised she had attended the Canadian Urban Transit Association meeting the previous day and there was some discussion about the Presto Smartcard wherein it was noted that some municipalities in Europe are moving away from smartcards; likewise, the City of Toronto intends to move to the use of enhanced credit cards and optical readers rather than the Smartcard. She felt the City of Ottawa should look into this, as it might be a simpler and more cost effective approach. Mr. Mercier replied that Presto is undertaking a three-phased program. The first phase, which has just been launched, is a simplified cash Smartcard program (i.e. it pays a fare per boarding). The second phase, which is what would be used in Ottawa, enables period pass purchases. The third phase will look at open architecture in terms of fare payment (i.e. payment through various forms of media). He noted this is a progressive technology and that it might not be practical to wait for that last phase because many Transit riders, especially children, do not carry credit cards at this point in time.
Chair Wilkinson stressed the importance of talking with the City of Toronto about their plans so that Ottawa does not get left behind. Mr. Mercier assured there is no preclusion and the Presto card system will evolve as the City moves forward with technology models. He also pointed out that the cards do more than just financial transactions because they also serve to manage a transit system, features not available in the banking sector. The Chair remarked that a report would be coming forward at the end of the year about how it could be expanded to other activities within the City.
Chair Wilkinson noted the staff report was only routed to the IT Sub-committee and Transit Committee for information and she suggested it should go on to Council as well. Committee agreed.
Councillor Chiarelli noted that the City of Toronto and other municipalities with systems already in place have a vested interest in advocating for those systems. He suggested it would be more beneficial to have a meeting with Accenture or one of the companies that set up various systems for smartcard technology to find out how best to proceed. Chair Wilkinson agreed but asserted that the City should be aware of what is happening elsewhere.
Moved by E. El-Chantiry:
That the Information Technology
Sub-Committee recommend that Transit Committee and Council receive this
report for information.
CARRIED as amended