Comparative Evaluation of Technologies and Data Sources to Capture Travel Time at Section-Level on Urban Streets

This paper focuses on capturing section-level (a signalized intersection to the next) travel times on urban street segments using Bluetooth detectors as well as from INRIX data source and comparing it with manual and Global Positioning System (GPS) floating test car methods (test car with a trained technician and GPS unit to capture travel time between selected points) for each travel time run. Results obtained indicate that section-level travel time data captured using Bluetooth detectors on urban street segments are less accurate and not dependable when compared with GPS unit and INRIX. The role of various on-network characteristics on the percentage difference in travel time from GPS unit, INRIX, and Bluetooth detectors was also examined.