Newsletter of the
ITS Cooperative Deployment Network
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ICDN: The original goal of the 511 Model Deployment was to "push the envelope." How is this project doing that?

Wolfe: In several ways. One important way is trying to get additional sources of information aside from just DOTs. We have done that by also getting information from the local governments, traffic departments, the airports, and tourism and transit agencies. These new sources cover a number of facets.

ICDN: Are all those additional information sources in place now?

Wolfe: Yes. From the main menu, you can either go to roads, transit, tourism, or airports, or you can leave a comment in the "Comments" section. Then there are a number of options under each of those four areas.

ICDN: This functionality is significantly enhanced compared to that of your original 511 system, correct?

Wolfe: Right. From the user perspective, of course, one of the main enhancements is voice recognition instead of just touch-tone, hitting the buttons.

ICDN: One of the objectives of the 511 Model Deployment is to make 511 service more personalized than in the past, right? I assume that’s what the voice recognition capability provides.

Wolfe: Right. We don’t provide turn-by-turn or trip directions -- that is still not part of the system. However, we do provide what we call "Quick Reports," which cover a portion of either Phoenix or Tucson. If you live in the Valley, in the past you would have had to provide the number of every freeway that you drove on, such as I-10, the 101, the 202, as so forth. Now, you can simply go to Quick Reports and say what part of the Valley you are from, such as "East Valley," and the Quick Report will give you information for just that section of the Valley.

ICDN: When were these new features put in place?

Wolfe: The new system went live in December 2003.

ICDN: Has it stayed fairly stable since then, or have you continued to add menu items and features and functionality?

Wolfe: We haven’t made a lot of major functionality changes, but we have done a lot of fine-tuning. In particular, the system has to try and figure out every possible option that a person might say. For example, I might call it "Interstate 10," and someone else might call it "I-10" or "State Route 10" or "Route 10."

All of those combinations for every route in the state had to be put into the system. Sometimes a user might just say "eight," and the system might have taken them to East Valley because they thought that was the closest thing. So we had to do a lot of fine-tuning on the voice recognition process through feedback from people saying "I said this but it thought I said that."

ICDN: Are you finding that quite a few people are providing feedback after they use the system? I presume you are finding that capability pretty useful.

Wolfe: Yes. We kicked off our 511 marketing campaign on the first of May. Before that we were only averaging one or two comments per day. We received over 50 comments during the first day after the marketing campaign began.

ICDN: Just because the volume of use was so much higher?

Wolfe: Yes. In fact, on a normal Monday -- prior to the campaign -- we might receive 700 to 800 calls. The first day we conducted our marketing campaign we received 17,000 calls.

ICDN: How did you market the service?

Wolfe: That portion of the campaign specifically involved putting messages on about 120 variable message signs (VMS) throughout the state. The sign would normally be blank unless there was construction or an incident or some type of an activity but, instead, we put "Road Conditions, Call 511."

ICDN: Do those VMS messages continue today?

Wolfe: No, that was just a one-week marketing campaign. During that week, the numbers varied from about 12,000 to 17,000 calls per day. In one week, we had 95,000 calls and our entire month, our greatest month ever, was just over 100,000 calls. The use of variable message signs had a huge impact. Interestingly enough, though, the very next day, after we took it down, the numbers dropped dramatically. It was almost as if people were seeing the sign and then calling 511. Our average call counts now, since the VMS campaign, are about three times what they were before.

ICDN: So, there was some residual benefit from it.

Wolfe: Yes. We have also had forest fires up north over the past two to three weeks, and have seen phenomenal call counts again. The spikes are even higher than the spikes would have been before.

ICDN: Are you doing anything special to tell people to dial 511 to find out how their travel may be affected by the fires?

Wolfe: The U.S. Forest Service’s web page describing the fires had "For Road Conditions, Dial 511" all over it. They also included the toll free long distance number -- 888-411-ROAD -- for those people outside the state of Arizona.

ICDN: Where does the information about the fires fit into your menu? Did you have to shoe horn it into the existing menu structure?

Wolfe: We were already providing road closures or road delay information. For example, we put up road closures or road restrictions on State Route 87, between Phoenix and Payson, for the Willow fire. 511 users weren’t getting fire information as much as they were getting road condition information.

ICDN: Why have you abandoned using the VMS’s statewide to market the Arizona 511 system? It sounds like that approach was a huge success.

Wolfe: Yes it was. It is mostly a cost issue – every hour that we burn those signs costs $8.00 per hour per sign. There was also a concern expressed that continued VMS use for 511 marketing could lead to motorists ignoring the messages as routine. As a lower-cost alternative, we are deploying static road signs statewide promoting the 511 service at about 50 locations. It is the MUTCD sign with the 511 symbol that says "Travel Info Dial 511."

ICDN: In addition to using VMS and static signs, what other 511 marketing approaches have you explored?

Wolfe: The week after the Memorial Day holiday we had a marketing campaign for the web page that said, "Road Conditions, click AZ511.com." That campaign led to a significant increase in our web page hits. Ironically, after the VMS signs had been down a week, the web page hits kept going. I am sure that increase is due in large part to the fire and the links from the Forest Service pages to ours.

ICDN: You’ve also added a lot more weather information to the 511 service as part of the Model Deployment, have you not?

Wolfe: We have added a portion of what we had planned, but some of that functionality is still not implemented. Right now the weather information that we provide relates to road conditions. For example, in snowy areas we get callbacks from our snow plow operators to tell us what the road condition is, from totally dry to totally impassable. We enter that information into our Road Condition System, which feeds both the 511 system and our web page. So the public is getting road condition information as it relates to weather. However, we are not yet providing – but hope to provide – actual weather forecast information from the National Weather Service, including current temperatures and predicted precipitation.

ICDN: Why is that functionality difficult to implement?

Wolfe: The national digital weather forecast database is not yet fully functional. We plan to use it when it is. Right now, we are receiving data on 42 specific locations throughout the state, and simply put text reports on our web site. Trying to convert that to text-to-speech is a real challenge, however, since those messages contain a lot of special codes and non-standard words.

ICDN: I presume that you have numerous RWIS (Road-Weather Information System) stations in place, right?

Wolfe: Yes, we have 14.

ICDN: Do those tie into your 511 system?

Wolfe: They do not. However, we do furnish that information on the web, including two camera shots from each RWIS site.

ICDN: Why are you not providing that road-weather information on the 511 system?

Wolfe: This data is essentially point data, and we haven't quite figured out how to interpret point data across a region or a route. Also, we don't really have sufficient RWIS stations.

ICDN: I understand that you are adding or planning to add arterial travel times on the 511 system, right?

Wolfe: That is correct. That involves a project to use license-plate readers on four of our arterial corridors in Phoenix. Those license-plate readers have been installed and tested, and are working properly. The problem is in the wireless connectivity between the City of Phoenix' system and our Traffic Operations Center.

ICDN: When do expect to resolve that communication problem?

Wolfe: Soon. In fact, the vendor will be back out here again during the week of August 5 to work on the wireless communications.

ICDN: You also planned to include bus arrival times on the 511 system, correct?

Wolfe: Right. However, we do not yet provide arrival times because the City of Phoenix’s Bus Rapid Transit System does not yet provide that information. We hope to incorporate that information into 511 when it does. On the transit side of the 511 system, you can select either Phoenix or Tucson. Under the Phoenix part of the menu, we have the ability to pre-record basic messages or transfer the caller to other departments, and we are right in the middle now of adding a number of additional departments. When we did the marketing campaign in May, the transit community was very pleased with what they saw, and so they said, "Hey, can we do this and can we do that?"

ICDN: They were pleased with the numbers?

Wolfe: Both the numbers of 511 callers and the positive public relations that came out of that marketing campaign. So, for example, they want a separate transfer if callers want Dial-A-Ride, and a separate transfer if they want Bus Rapid Transit and, in the future, Light Rail. Every one of those services has its own call center. In the past, we were just giving out the general transit information number, so we are doing quite a few more transfers. These different departments also have the ability to dial up a voice message box and leave general information that the public can access from the 511 system even before getting transferred.

ICDN: I understand that you also plan to include both parking and airport information in the 511 system. How's that coming?

Wolfe: We've integrated airport information, and that's been a big success. We have worked with both Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix and Tucson International Airport, and this has become an invaluable service because of post-September 11 security. Any time we go from yellow to orange security levels, they increase the security around Sky Harbor and stop everyone, and a number of highways are closed or the number of lanes is reduced for security inspections. Sky Harbor now uses a voice mailbox to record a message explaining exactly what is happening, and they are now using 511 as a way to tell people about those changes.

One other benefit I'd like to mention has been for Amber Alerts, which, of course, are hot items around the country. We have the ability to enter what we call a "flood gate message," which is a mandatory message that everyone has to listen to and is the first message you hear in the 511 system. Anytime there is an Amber Alert now, our operators enter a flood gate message. The Arizona Amber Alert Web Portal now sends us an e-mail message anytime there is an Amber Alert, and our operator can simply cut and paste the text of that message into the 511 system, which then uses a text-to-speech converter. In the last year, Arizona has had ten Amber Alerts and, in every case, the child has been successfully recovered. We also use our variable message signs for Amber Alerts.

ICDN: Do the Amber Alert messages on your variable message signs typically say, "Call 511 for More Information?"

Wolfe: No. That’s what they wanted us to do, but we weren't sure we could handle the call load. Our message boards say "Amber Alert" and provide specific information if we have it, like a license plate number or vehicle description. If we don't have detailed information, we say "tune to local media."

ICDN: Were your concerns about call load during Amber Alerts because of your experience when you marketed the 511 system on your VMSs back in May? Were people not getting through during that week due to the dramatically increased demand for all 511 calls?

Wolfe: That was not a problem. In fact, since upgrading the system in December, we now have four T1 lines that each handles 24 simultaneous calls, so our capacity is now about 100 lines. We haven’t gotten even close to capacity.

ICDN: But you are still concerned that an Amber Alert warning might take the call volume past capacity?

Wolfe: It might take it up to capacity, but more importantly, people would call in with the expectation of being able to report an Amber Alert. We don’t have any operators -- we can’t handle a live conversation. We really want to encourage them to work through local law enforcement.

ICDN: What about parking information? Can that information be accessed via the 511 system?

Wolfe: Not yet. Phoenix is installing a downtown parking management system, and we are certainly working with them. The City of Glendale recently built a new hockey arena and soon plans to open a new football stadium. Parking at both of those event centers is a major issue. In the future, the city will be able to enter parking or event information into the Highway Condition Reporting System, which will enable that information to go out through the 511 system.

ICDN: Let me ask you a loaded question. You are adding a whole lot of new features, reports, and voice messages to your 511 system as part of the Model Deployment. At some point, does the system get almost overloaded with information?

Wolfe: In the past, for example, when users had to select I-10 from one side of the state to the other, the response could very well become overloaded because, in Phoenix alone, there might be half-a-dozen incidents occurring on I-10. By dividing it into smaller segments, users can get to the piece of information that they really want to hear. This segmentation has really helped, and means that the public can get to what they want to know without having to listen to a bunch of stuff they don’t really care about.

ICDN: In the early days of the project, there was some discussion about providing provisions to test what are commonly called "premium services," or pay-for-fee services that a private sector might provide above and beyond what is provided by the 511 system. Is that portion of the project still underway?

Wolfe: We put out a Request for Proposals that basically said we were looking for a vendor who could utilize the 511 number to provide premium services. We received two proposals, only one of which was considered responsive. That vendor subsequently closed their customer service center. I don’t know if they officially went out of business or not.

ICDN: Is there a place for premium 511 services?

Wolfe: I would like to see that. Unfortunately, I don’t know that there is a business model right now that can support it. It just doesn’t seem that people are willing to pay very much to get premium service information.

ICDN: Let’s talk a bit more about some of the project's "lessons learned" now that you're more than halfway through the Model Deployment. What lessons learned come to mind that you hadn’t expected at this point in time?

Wolfe: Certainly the airport reports have been a success story, as have Amber Alerts. The Quick Reports have been a very favorable thing, but the daily commuter doesn't seem to be using that service very much. Most of our customers are still using 511 for events, whether it is a forest fire, a closed highway, or they are checking traffic conditions before they leave on Friday to go up north to the cool country.

ICDN: You had hoped to reach many more daily commuters with the system, right?

Wolfe: Exactly, and the Quick Reports specifically target that segment.

ICDN: So how will you reach those folks?

Wolfe: We are doing a couple of things. In our continued marketing efforts, we are distributing brochures that show a map of the valley and the Quick Report regions. We are hoping that, through education and future media releases, we'll be able to better target commuters.

ICDN: Do you expect commuters to change their route choice if they call 511 from their car when they are already en route?

Wolfe: Some will, just because they can choose from multiple freeways. We have two outer loops in the Valley as well as the core freeway system in downtown Phoenix. We believe that drivers will choose the best alternative. The Quick Reports also provide city street information as well, such as accidents on arterials. Commuters can certainly take advantage of the grid system in Phoenix -- they only have to go one mile either way from an incident to avoid it.

ICDN: How many menu options do commuters have to drill down through to access Quick Reports?

Wolfe: The way the system is designed, if you know the name of your Quick Report you can say it at the very beginning. You can listen to the first sentence that says, "Welcome to the Arizona 511 system," and immediately after that say "East Valley." I use it on a daily basis. I cross two Quick Report regions, so I can very quickly say "East Valley" and "Central Phoenix" and hear everything I need. Commuters can also say their particular highway by name, which is another new feature. So, instead of saying "Loop 101" and having to listen to a report on every segment of that very long highway, I can simply say "Price Freeway" and I’m there.

ICDN: Do any other lessons learned come to mind?

Wolfe: I would say that deploying voice recognition took a lot more work than we had expected.

ICDN: Because of the factor you mentioned earlier, that you have to anticipate all possible responses?

Wolfe: Yes. I think that a lot of the voice recognition systems that had been deployed previously had a very limited number of choices. As soon as you start adding every state route and every highway and every arterial street in the state, the system is looking for so many different things and can mistake one thing for another. If the system is only looking for 1 through 4, it is pretty easy to tell "did he say one or did he say two -- did he say three or did he say four?" However, it's a significantly different task to look for every possible combination of route numbers and arterial streets in the state. Voice recognition is a very big challenge to deploy right now.

ICDN: We have covered a whole lot of territory. Does anything else come to mind?

Wolfe: Just that we have worked very closely with the 511 Deployment Coalition’s Working Group, and are right now trying to incorporate many of the guidelines that have been published by the Coalition. Those guidelines include things like menu structure and integration and interoperability. The Coalition provides a primary focal point for states wanting to deploy 511.

Tim Wolfe can be reached at twolfe@dot.state.az.us