Can Trip Planner Log Files Analysis Help in Transit Service Planning

Transit trip planners are now found on most transit authority websites. This feature gives transit users a full itinerary from a point of origin to a destination. The web service on which the trip planner is installed usually stores usage logs on a daily basis.Log files contain data on origins, destinations, calculated paths, and other website entries. The purpose of this article is to determine whether the analysis of trip planner log files can help to improve transit service by providing better knowledge on transit users. A website oriented analysis and a transit oriented analysis based on 4 years of observations on the Montreal Transit Commission website are presented. Results show that, even though not all transit users have access to the Internet or use the planner regularly, log files can be useful for identifying new locations to be assessed by a transit system for better understanding user behaviors, and for guiding updates of the geographic information system and the trip planner itself.