The city is employing AI to adjust traffic signals to prioritize buses.
San José, California has increased its transit bus speeds by 20 percent using AI to adjust traffic signal timing, reports Dan Zukowski in Smart Cities Dive.
“The system uses real-time traffic data to give green signals to buses, thereby improving on-time performance and reducing traffic congestion, the city said in a news release.” The city started using signal priority on two bus routes in 2023.
The original pilot program reduced bus wait times at red lights by 50 percent. It has worked so well that a city spokesperson says the only problem is that the buses are sometimes ahead of schedule.
Read the full story: How one city increased transit bus speeds by 20%
Does every planner need an AI policy?
From a hundred-person agency to a one-person consultancy, the answer is yes. The difference is what “policy" means.
Boston Bus Signal Priority Project Yields Faster Travel Times
The city now plans to expand a year-long pilot project that reduced the time buses waited at traffic signals.
How AI Can Improve Public Transit
Machine learning and AI can transform the way transit agencies operate and make service faster and more comfortable for users.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Chicago breaks ground on $3 billion megadevelopment
The new neighborhood, titled Foundry Park, will one day host 3,700 residences.
Satanic place names
From streams and lakes to valleys and canyons, I mapped more than 1,000 places named after the Devil.
California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO resigns after $600,000 scandal
Under Ian Choudri, the authority used taxpayer dollars to fund first class flights and trips to nightclubs.
Want to study the Missouri River? Soon, you may need unanimous approval from 10 states
Legislation would require 10 governors’ permission to study or build projects moving water outside the basin.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority