CONDUCTING A SUCCESSFUL BUS STOP INVENTORY UTILIZING THE GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM

The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas (METRO) is a regional transportation organization providing public transit service throughout a 1,300 square mile area. Because public transit is geographical in nature, METRO maintains a multi-departmental Geographic Information System (GIS). In order to implement advanced technology projects such as a computerized customer trip itinerary planning system, automatic real time vehicle locators, automatic passenger counters and a bus stop annunciator system, the existing GIS needed to be augmented with an accurate bus stop data layer. As a result, a bus stop inventory was conducted using Global Positioning System technology. This paper details the steps taken to preserve a high degree of data accuracy during the planning, execution, audit and maintenance of the bus stop inventory.