JPS6243240B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a bus management and operation system in which a computer selects a travel route in response to a user's request and causes the bus to travel.

For example, in areas where demand for transportation is sparse and users who are scattered across many locations tend to go to many different locations, it is uneconomical to operate route buses. Therefore, except during commuting hours, women, children, the elderly, visitors from outside, and commuters outside of normal commuting hours, who live in the area, face significant transportation difficulties unless they have a private car. This makes them vulnerable to transportation. Of course, there are not only the above-mentioned areas but also areas within the city where there are many similarly vulnerable people.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a means of transportation that can be operated while maintaining a high service level and low operating costs for such people who are vulnerable to transportation.

More specifically, in order to provide a bus transportation system with a high level of service to the above-mentioned vulnerable people, it is necessary to arrange the bus stops at a high density. However, on the other hand, low operating costs are required, and therefore, even if a large number of stops are provided, it is a major issue to reduce the equipment costs as much as possible.

In order to solve these problems, the present invention is a roadside device installed at a large number of bus stops, and is designed to provide the minimum number of buses necessary for a control center to determine which bus should stop at the stop where a user is waiting. Equipment for obtaining information, namely a destination input panel with a small number of push buttons that correspond to a rough display of the destination by direction, and a control center that transmits the information entered through these push buttons. By providing communication equipment that enables transmission of information to the bus driver, and by configuring the bus driver to input further information from the driver input section, it is possible to form the above-mentioned on-road device at a low cost. This allows even general passengers who are not familiar with the operation to easily input the target value input panel.

Hereinafter, the configuration and functions of an embodiment of the bus management operation system according to the present invention will be described in detail.

Figure 1 shows the basic configuration of the above-mentioned bus management and operation system.
It consists of a large number of small buses equipped with on-vehicle devices that communicate with the on-road devices, and a control center that is directly connected to each of the above-mentioned on-road devices via a public corporation line or a dedicated line. It is desirable to place the stops where small buses stop at a high density within the area where this system is installed, and it is effective to maintain service standards if everyone can reach the stop within a certain amount of time (for example, 5 minutes). It is.

As shown in Figure 2, the above-mentioned on-road equipment installed at such stops has a destination input panel operated by the user to input a call (use request), a control center, and an in-vehicle device. It is equipped with a roadside antenna used for wireless communication using radio waves, and also has communication and information processing functions. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the destination input panel includes displays 11a to 11d of the direction of the destination, and a display 1 of specific stop names corresponding to each display.
2a to 12d, a plurality of push buttons 13a to 13d corresponding to the displays 11a to 11d of the above directions,
and an indicator light 14 that indicates that the control center has accepted a user's call, and is configured so that the user can input a call including an instruction as to which direction to go to by using pushbuttons 13a to 13d. . In addition, the above roadside antenna is
When the bus stops at a stop or passes through a stop, it receives information sent from the onboard device on the bus through the onboard antenna, and at the same time sends information from the control center to the onboard antenna. The configuration is such that information is exchanged between the in-vehicle device and the control center. Therefore, the bus communicates with the control center each time it passes each stop, and the control center can recognize the operating status of the bus by confirming the stops that the bus passes sequentially.

The processing unit installed in the on-road device shown in Figure 2 is connected to the public company line leading to the road antenna and the control center via the communication unit, respectively, and transmits and receives signals between the control center and the on-vehicle device. A destination input panel is connected to the processing section via an input/output interface, and the signals from the destination input panel are also converted in the same manner.

Therefore, when a bus user makes a call by pressing the pushbutton for the direction he or she wants to go to at any stop, the call is transmitted to the control center via the processing section and communication section, and the control center makes a call. The arithmetic unit calculates which bus currently running is appropriate to stop at the stop and pick up the user, and the command is sent to the appropriate bus. Since the control center is aware of the operating status of all buses, each bus communicates with the control center at each stop it passes in order to specify its operating route, and the control center knows which buses are operating. Since it is known which stop to communicate with next, the necessary information can be sent when the desired bus passes through the stop. In this case, for example, if it is necessary to immediately change the previously designated route and take a slight detour to allow the user to board the train, communications will be made to instruct the user to change the route. When a user makes a call at a stop on a bus route, the user only needs to instruct the bus to stop at that stop; therefore, there is no need to give specific instructions until the bus passes the previous stop. .

On the other hand, as shown in Figure 4, the in-vehicle devices installed on each of the many buses provide necessary information to the driver based on communication from the driver input section where the bus driver inputs the necessary inputs and the control center. It is equipped with a driver display section that issues display commands, and has a communication function and an information processing function.

A driver input section 21 and a driver display section 22 as shown in FIG. 5 are arranged near the driver on the bus.
1 is equipped with a numeric keypad 23, a plurality of function keys 24a to 24c, a data input key 25, and an input data display section 26, and the driver display section 22 is provided with a display section for displaying a stop code, presence or absence of passengers, etc. The processing unit in FIG. 4 is connected to the driver input unit and driver display unit via the input/output interface, and is also connected to the vehicle antenna via the communication unit. is configured to perform the necessary signal conversion.

Note that other input devices, such as a voice input device, can also be used in place of the numeric keypad and the like.

In such in-vehicle devices, the driver collects the fare by asking the passenger who boarded the bus at the bus stop, and then enters the code of the destination on the numeric keypad.
3 and function keys 24a to 24c, the contents are displayed in the input data display section 26.
When you confirm the input data and press the data input key 25, the data is sent to the processing unit via the input/output interface, and after performing the necessary conversion for transmission, it is sent to the road through the on-board antenna. It is sent to the device and then to the control center.

When loading the above-mentioned passengers onto a bus, the control center judges in advance whether the direction of the destination is appropriate in relation to the destinations of other passengers on the bus. In some cases, travel time may be longer than necessary due to the relationship with other passengers, and in some cases, passengers may mistakenly board a bus that has stopped in response to another user's call. If it is inconvenient to board the passenger, a message to that effect is displayed on the driver display section 22 according to an instruction from the control center.

In addition to the above-mentioned display, the driver display section 22 also displays the route or direction to be operated from now on, including the code of the next stop or stop, etc., through communication with the control center at the stop. At the same time, the presence or absence of passengers getting on and off at that stop is displayed, and the driver can operate the bus according to the display.

The control center mentioned above is equipped with an electronic computer, generates optimal dispatch information based on information from each on-road device, and sends it to the on-vehicle device via each on-road device. The specific means for signal processing and transmission/reception of the processing unit shown in FIGS. 2 and 4 can also be easily realized based on existing technology.

FIG. 6 shows an overview of the bus management and operation system according to the present invention, in which 10 is a road device, 30 is a bus equipped with on-vehicle devices, 40 is a control center, 15 is a road antenna, and 27 is an on-vehicle antenna. ing. Instead of the road antenna disposed at the upper end of the road device 10, a road antenna 15a as shown in FIG. 7 is buried in the road, and the vehicle antenna 2
7a can also be installed below the bus 30.
Moreover, FIG. 8 shows an outline of an on-vehicle device disposed near the driver's seat of the bus.

As is clear from the detailed description above, according to the present invention, it is possible to operate a small bus system with a large number of stops, free and unfixed routes, and a free timetable, maintaining high service standards and low operating costs. be able to.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a basic configuration diagram of the bus management operation system according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a configuration diagram of the on-road device, Fig. 3 is a front view of the destination input panel in the above-mentioned on-road device, and Fig. 4 is a diagram of the on-vehicle device. A configuration diagram of the device, FIG. 5 is a front view of the driver input section and driver display section in the above device, FIG. 6 is a perspective view schematically showing the outline of the bus management operation system of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a roadside device. FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing an outline of the vehicle-mounted device. 10...Road device, 11a-11d...Display of destination direction, 12a-12d...Display of stop name, 13a-13d...Push button, 15,
15a...road antenna, 21...driver input section, 22...driver display section, 30...bus, 4
0...Control center.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Consisting of on-road devices installed at each of a number of stops, multiple buses equipped with onboard devices that communicate with the on-road devices, and a control center directly connected to each of the above-mentioned on-road devices, The on-road device includes a destination input panel with a rough display of the destination by direction and a small number of push buttons corresponding to the directions, and a roadside antenna that communicates with the in-vehicle device using weak radio waves.
The on-vehicle device is equipped with the communication and information processing functions necessary for communication between the on-road device and the on-board device and the control center, and the driver inputs the destination of the boarded user using the stop name or stop code. An input section and a driver display section are provided to display whether or not the user is allowed to board the vehicle and the code of the next stop to stop or pass through. A bus management and operation system characterized by having a function of instructing a bus to stop at a particular stop.