There’s a lot that can be learned from looking at the data. Many agencies fail to use the data they collect to really understand their system, figure out where things are going wrong, and find ways to fix those issues. Data is used primarily for customer service and short-term operational adjustments, typically in near-real-time.
There’s a huge opportunity for public transportation agencies to leverage their data for what I like to call “strategic operations planning”. Looking in detail at the fine-grain information that is collected, patterns can start to emerge. We can identify reliability bottlenecks, operational challenges, and performance issues.
To do this properly, we need to look at the data in multiple ways. It’s not enough to publish a single performance statistic like “87% of trains depart on time”1, which only leads to more questions: What is ‘on time’? Is this at each station, or only the first departing station? Statistics like this lead to confusion and potential distrust in the reporting and analysis of the agency.
Instead, the data needs to tell a story. With growing attention on urban and regional transit, there is an opportunity for these agencies to push for resources to improve their service, in particularly their reliability. In a complex environment of competing interests, politicial priorities, and space, agencies like VIA rail are going to need the data to back them up.
The story that follows is about VIA Rail, about reliability, and about data. But it’s also about inspiring all transit agencies to leverage the data they have to tell a story.