Evaluation of Transit Ecodriving in Rural, Suburban, and Urban Environments

Ecodriving (also known as eco-driving) is a widely recognized strategy to reduce transit vehicle fuel consumption and emissions. Previous simulation modeling and field studies have demonstrated that ecodriving can reduce fuel consumption by 2%–27%. However, prior studies have typically focused on urban transit operations. More than 1700 transit agencies operate in rural areas within the United States, operating under very different conditions than urban transit systems. Assessing the variability of fuel savings across various transit operating conditions and physical terrain conditions will help transit agencies predict the potential benefits of deploying ecodriving strategies for their systems. The objective of this study is to assess the potential benefits and limitations of deploying ecodriving strategies for different transit services, service areas, fleet composition, and road topographies. There are three preliminary tasks involved in this study. The first element collects and processes the operation data across different transit services. Second-by-second operation data are collected from one urban, suburban, and rural transit agency. The second element evaluates the operation characteristics of each type of transit service. The third element assesses the potential benefits of introducing the transit ecodriving strategy to the operations of these fleets. The fuel consumption is evaluated by matching the second-by-second MOVES model operating mode bin with corresponding emission rates. Overall, the ecodriving strategy can help reduce 1%–5% fuel use across these agencies, and save $ 0.011–$ 0.045 operational cost per mile due to the fuel saving. The actual benefits vary by service, mileage, and road grade impact.