Development of a Windows Based Travel Time and Delay Application
Software
by Pierre San Diego
BACKGROUND:
Travel time and delay studies are widely used measures of traffic congestion.
The floating car technique has been the primary procedure in which travel
time and delay are measured. Traditionally, two persons are needed in
this technique, one to drive the vehicle and another to record the time
to travel between two predetermined points. The distance between the
two points is subdivided into segments where each endpoint of the segment
is a possible cause of delay. Data such as running time, time consumed
by delays, and the reasons for delays are tallied in a data sheet.
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:
The study aims to develop a computer software application made especially
for laptops to be used for the measurement and analysis of travel time
and delay to alleviate the problems encountered in manual data collection,
and also to provide a cheaper alternative to more advanced technologies
for travel time and delay data collection and analysis
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY:
While new technologies provide accurate real time information, they
are very costly and thus are not economical given the financial constraints
of traffic management firms in the Philippines.
Computer programs provide a cheaper alternative to the data collection
problem. The simplicity of using software instead of the labor-intensive
and sometimes confusing manual method of data collection may seem more
viable to traffic engineers. Complex travel time and delay studies involving
large distances/ numerous segments can be simplified with the use of
software.
EXPECTED RESULTS
At the end of the study, the researcher aims to create a computer program
that would serve as a viable tool for travel time and delay data collection
and analysis. The software application should be able to compete with
the low-cost but error-prone manual method of collecting data from the
floating car method and more advanced but costly technologies for travel
time data collection such as Distance Measuring Instrument equipped
computers/laptops.
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