Bus Operation Safety Business Intelligence Solution: Applying Analytics for Key Performance Indicator, Investigation, and Targeted Actions Analyses with a Centralized Data Warehouse

Abstract

A business intelligence (BI) system was designed to create a proactive, reactive, and precursor decision tool to improve safety of bus operations at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). The system’s development was motivated in part by recommendations of a safety inspection by the Federal Transportation Administration, and the realization that the MBTA has access to vest amounts of data that are not being used to create information effectively. The developers reduced the complexity of the BI system by incorporating analytics to determine the areas of focus where safety has the most impact. Challenges were posed by the need to integrate internal and external databases with various formats and structures, and the desire to create a self-service BI solution for multiple MBTA users. The resulting BI solution includes applications that support key performance indicator analyses, root cause investigations, and targeted improvement actions. These applications represent an enhanced approach that combines data for a more holistic analysis and eliminates the need to transfer datasets or data analyses by email. The system includes various forms of visualizations to help users navigate the myriad of information, including geospatial maps, interactive pie, line, and bar charts, and word frequency and relationship mapping. The paper details the system’s development and how analytical approaches were used to expose important information that is hidden in the data. Examples of applications are shown using screenshots and a general workflow is presented that could be applicable to agencies with fewer resources.