The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro)administers the TripMaster System, which serves as the transit trip planning system for the South Coast region. As Metro is the developer of the TripMaster software and the host for the regional transit itinerary database, Metro was selected as a partner in the development of the Regional Rideshare/Transit Itinerary Communications Link.
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Metro's technical staff worked with consultant MapVision to design and create the XML Interface prototype between the TripMaster and RidePro systems. The SOAP interface was designed into two components - a SOAP server front-end distributing to a REST server back end in order to allow the Trip Planner to support the Regional 511 system. Trip planner demand increased over 100% during the first year of the project due to escalating fuel costs as well as greater general use of the Metro website. This necessitated the addition of new hardware/communications resources. The testing of the communications link involved extensive testing of the XML interface. RidePro consultants from The Trapeze Group conducted the tests as a team with Metro technical staff and the ridematching technical staff at Inland Empire Commute Service, who assists in ridematching on behalf of the Riverside County Transportation Commission. The communications link testing focused on the interface throughput time. The tests simulated a steady stream of transit itinerary requests that would be issued as a large batch of RideGuide reports. In adition to scheduled batches, ad hoc batches were added, along with various interactive itinerary requests made through the web browser interface. Extensive testing and programming modifications to the communications link were completed during 2010, with sustained batch processing rates of 60 itineraries per minute achieved.
The purpose of this project is to enhance the region's rideshare database system through the creation of a direct Regional Rideshare/Transit Itinerary Communications Link. This link allows transit itineraries to be published on the RideGuides created by the regional ride matching database system (RidePro). The link also facilitates access of transit itineraries through the Ridematch.info website whenever a rideshare plan is requested. The Ridematch.info website is accessed via the two Souther California 511 websites as well as www.CommuteSmart.info.
The project was successfully implemented and the communications link is fully operational.
The development of the communications link was successfully completed and the link is fully operational. To contiued operational availability of the link and to minimize any downtime, Metro has committed to an ongoing effort to test and modify TripMaster performance, including formation and allocation of technical staff to a system support group.
The Trapeze Group
MapVision