Transit Standards Newsletter


A Publication of the Transit Standards Consortium, Inc.

February 17, 2003       Vol. 5, No. 1    

Printer-Friendly Version:  http://www.tsconsortium.org/transit_standards_newsletter.htm

A Word from the President of the Transit Standards Consortium:

The Transit Standards Consortium is an independent, non-profit association dedicated to facilitating development, testing, maintenance and training in the use of critical enabling standards for the transit industry. 

When you joined TSC, you joined a dynamic community of transit colleagues and partner organizations who seek ways of incorporating standards into their everyday work.  TSC serves as a forum for all of us to learn about and get access to the very latest in standards directly applicable to every aspect of transit planning, operations, safety, security, design, construction and reporting. 

Working together with our alliance partners, we identify needed standards and help their members find ways to develop, test, maintain and use them.  We do this by sponsoring research, conducting education and training, and by hosting national teleconferences on urgent issues related to emerging transit standards.

We’ve been serving you and the transit community since 1998.  We welcome your participation.

--Richard C. Hodges, TSC President

rhodges@uta.cog.ut.us

TSC’s Next National Teleconference on Emerging Standards for Transit Security and Homeland Defense to focus on Security for Control Systems in Transit

The Transit Standards Consortium will be hosting an important National Teleconference on “Security for Control Systems in Transit” on Wednesday, February 19, 2003 from 1-2:30 pm, EST. The guest speaker is Mr. Jeremy Roberts, Chief Engineer of the LonMark Interoperability Association.  Mr. Roberts will be joined by technical experts from the process control industry and transit property IT people who are dealing with this problem today.  All members of the transit community are welcome to participate in the teleconference.  For more information, see http://www.tsconsortium.org/TSC2003/NationalTeleconSeries/TeleconSeries2003.htm.

TSC Outreach and Training Courses Taught at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority on February 11 and 12, 2003.

Three TSC Outreach and Training courses were taught last week at the LACMTA: A High Level Introduction to ITS and Standards for Decision Makers; Transit Area Vehicle Networks: Why Vehicle Area Networks Are an Important Investment in a Constantly Changing World of Technology; and Transit Area Vehicle Networks: Utilizing Smart Bus Technologies in an ITS Environment.  The TSC courses were subsidized in part by the Federal Transit Administration.  For more information on how your agency can host or attend future Transit ITS Standards Outreach and Training Courses, contact Richard Cox, TSC Outreach and Training Program Manager at rcox@sae.org.

NTCIP Transit Communications Interface Profiles (TCIP) Draft Amendments Available for User Comments

NTCIP Standards Bulletin B0082 reports that in October 2002, the Joint Committee on the National Transportation Communications for ITS Protocols (NTCIP) accepted nine TCIP documents as User Comment Draft Amendments.  AASHTO, ITE, and NEMA are distributing copies to their members for review and comment. All interested parties are invited to comment.

The user comment drafts include:

NTCIP 1400, TCIP Framework Standard, Amendment 1

NTCIP 1401, TCIP Common Public Transportation (CPT) Objects, Amendment 1

NTCIP 1402, TCIP Incident Management (IM) Objects, Amendment 1

NTCIP 1403, TCIP Passenger Information (PI) Objects, Amendment 1

NTCIP 1404, TCIP Scheduling/Runcutting (SCH) Objects, Amendment 1

NTCIP 1405, TCIP Spatial Representation (SP) Objects, Amendment 1

NTCIP 1406, TCIP On-Board (OB) Objects, Amendment 1

NTCIP 1407, TCIP Control Center (CC) Objects, Amendment 1

NTCIP 1408, TCIP Fare Collection (FC) Objects, Amendment 1

See the NTCIP website (www.ntcip.org >> News >> Current News Articles) for a copy of the NTCIP Standards Bulletin.  The User Comment Draft Amendments are available in the NTCIP Web site Library.  See the table of Document Links, 1400 thru 1408.

The TCIP is the Transit Communications Interface Profiles, which is part of the NTCIP family of standards. The amendments make various changes, such as the elimination of error codes from lists of code types. The amendments incorporate changes reported from several early deployers of the TCIP objects, including the CalPoly APTS in San Luis Obispo; the TransCom / Trips 123 project in metro NYC; King County Metro, Washington; and Portland, Oregon.

All interested parties are invited to PLEASE COMMENT by FEBRUARY 24, 2003.

For more information, please contact Dr. Isaac Takyi (NYC Transit Authority), itakyi@nyct.com, or Polly Okunieff, pokunieff@sasi-technology.com, or Bruce Schopp (NTCIP Coordinator), ntcip@nema.org.

ITS America Hosts “Moving Toward an Integrated Network of Transportation Information,” February 18-20, 2003, Houston

The key to the evolution of ITS and surface transportation is more and better data to enhance transportation system operations, providing better information to users, and improving the safety of transportation system users.  And the answer is an integrated network of transportation information (INTI.)

     Attend ITS America's National INTI Workshop and come away with answers to the following questions: How will the INTI affect my current ITS deployments? What is involved in getting the INTI up and running? How does my organization fit in? How much will it cost, and who will pay for it? For program and registration details, visit http://www.itsa.org/resources.nsf/e67a236e2c98fa7a8525659d0056432a/96bc6dd46c6b57c485256c98006ae1aa?OpenDocument

ITS Standards Outreach, Education and Training (OET) Courses 2003

The Institute of Transportation Engineers and the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Standards Outreach, Education and Training Public Sector Users Advisory Group (UAG), in conjunction with AASHTO, NEMA, AMPO, IEEE, SAE and ITS America announced its 2003 Program.  For more information, contact James M. Cheeks Jr. at ITE Headquarters jcheeks@ite.org.

APTA Announces Program Plan for TCIP Standards Development and Deployment

The American Public Transportation Association recently announced a Program Plan for completing the development of the Transit Communications Interface Profiles (TCIP) standards and initiating TCIP deployment within the transit industry.  The effort is funded by the Federal Transit Administration.  For information, contact Louis F. Sanders, Director, APTA Research and Technology LSanders@apta.com.

 

 

Transit Standards Newsletter   

Copyright © 2003 Transit Standards Consortium, Inc.

 

Published monthly by the Transit Standards Consortium, Inc., an independent, non-profit, IRS 501 (c) (3) educational organization

www.tsconsortium.org

For information, contact info@tsconsortium.org