AVTA Aims to Schedule and Launch the World’s First All-Electric Bus Fleet
The “Race to Zero”
When the team at Antelope Valley Transit Authority (AVTA), heard about the Race to Zero Emissions competition, they knew they had to take part. The competition is a friendly challenge between transit agencies to build out the first fully emissions-free bus fleet. In 2018, the US Department of Transportation and Chinese Ministry of Transportation will announce the city that has made the most progress toward the goal.
With a significant portion of its fleet already electric, the AVTA team knew they had a realistic shot at winning in the inaugural year of the contest. If they could transition the remainder of their conventional fleet to emission-less vehicles, the Race could be theirs.
The Schedule Challenges of Going Electric
But becoming the first all-electric fleet in the world requires more than just acquiring electric buses. There are unique operational challenges as well. For one, the limited vehicle range for electric buses would put new constraints on their vehicle schedules. To successfully account for shorter vehicle ranges, an all-electric fleet’s schedule quickly becomes a complex dance of charging stations, driver reliefs, and interlining to make the most efficient schedule possible.
Addressing these electric-specific questions is in addition to AVTA’s existing challenge of on-time performance. Many of the agency’s routes run at one-hour headways, so passengers have to wait for an hour to catch a connecting bus if it arrives late at a timepoint.
Until now, these challenges have been difficult to surmount. The opaque process they had with their operator meant the team had to wait for a month and a half to get blocking and runcut drafts. For most bids, there was enough time for only one or two revisions before the schedule had to be finalized, typically without consulting their drivers first. As a result, their schedules rarely ever changed; and their on-time performance continued to suffer.
AVTA knew that in order to to face these challenges — and to win the Race to Zero — they’d need a high degree of control over their vehicle schedules.
“When it comes to electric buses, knowing your range is key. Remix Scheduling will allow us to create a timetable that includes in-route charging time at specific locations.
We can block our units while keeping the range in mind, to guarantee performance of the service and successfully make the transition to a full electric fleet.” -Geraldina Romo, Planner
Racing Toward Zero with Remix Scheduling
That’s why the AVTA team is investing in Remix Scheduling. Remix is designed to empower agencies to try many options — in less time — for their blocking, runcutting, and rostering outputs.
For the first time, Remix has enabled the AVTA team to iterate fast in the face of the needs of their community. “The graphics allow us to visualize what we’re doing,” says Geraldina Romo, Transit Analyst at AVTA. “We can see if we’re addressing the feedback that we’ve gotten from the customer.”
With the ability to visually analyze blocking scenarios, and to adjust layover lengths on the fly, AVTA can now build in enough transfer time to combat on-time performance. “With Remix, you can see the connectivity with the other routes,” Romo says. “You can see if the drivers are going to make it or not.”
But most importantly, it’s going to improve their workflow overall. “Just having the ability to do the blocking and the runs by ourselves, it’s very empowering,” Romo explains.
And in such a competitive environment, perhaps an efficient workflow is the edge AVTA will need to win the Race to Zero.
To hear more about AVTA’s challenges and how they’re using Remix Scheduling to surmount them, watch more here:
