How often do researchers and industry professionals get to discuss Taylor Swift, AI and construction together? Though it appears to be the start of a riddle, it’s a taste of what transpires at the annual gathering involving transportation research and real-world solutions at the CATTS-TAL Symposium.
Some 225 registrants attended, both virtually and in person, the joint symposium of the Centre for Automated and Transformative Transportation Systems (CATTS) and the Transit Analytics Lab (TAL) held at U of T December 2-3. CATTS focuses on how to harness new technologies – like automated vehicles, electric vehicles, and emerging service concepts like ride sharing, car sharing and so on – and understanding the impacts they can bring to the environment, on travel behaviour, on operations and on congestion. TAL, by definition, is focused on transit and data-driven solutions for various transit problems.
“The symposium is largely about AI and other advanced methods, along with emerging technologies of automation and connectivity – all applied to transportation,” explains CivMin Professor Amer Shalaby who is the Director of the University of Toronto Transportation Research Institute (UTTRI), which encompasses CATTS and TAL. He further expands, ”There’s a lot of interest from both the public and private sectors in applying AI-driven solutions to public transit and the transportation system in general. Also, people who are interested in automation and connectivity, find our symposium to be of interest.”
The mix of academics, both professors and students from U of T, as well as professors and students from other universities, complement a large contingent of practitioners from both the public sector and the private sector. Large events can create unique problems requiring unique solutions. One great example of large-scale transportation planning and management involved Taylor Swift’s November 2024 concerts in Toronto. Roger Browne, Toronto’s Director of Traffic Management, provided insights into how the city coped with the influx of crowds gathering downtown in spectacular numbers for the megastar’s concerts. Looking forward to World Cup events in the city come 2026, Browne pointed out lessons learned can be applied with a bit of experience to support efforts for yet another massive event in the core.
Shalaby gives an example of AI in real-world use for public transit, “One of the solutions we presented this morning was developed by one of our PhD students. ELSSA, which stands for experience learning based system for supervisor assistance, is a tool for transit incident management assistance. When some problem on a bus route occurs, how do you respond to this? For example, a bus breaks down or two busses are grouped up together – we call that bunching – or a very long gap between buses and so on and so forth – how do you respond to those anomalies? There is a set of protocols, or SOPs – standard operating procedures – route supervisors are supposed to follow. But, in the heat of the moment, sometimes it’s really very hard to make a judgment call. So, we’re producing this tool, which is something similar to ChatGPT but for supervisors, that is trained on the formal guidelines by the TTC, and also trained based on reports of previous transit incidents that took place. It is an assistant meant to be loaded on a mobile device, and route supervisors can use it to get quick answers.”
Some speakers showcased practical elements as well in the complex navigation to reducing carbon emissions in public transit. Bem Case, Executive Director of Innovation and Sustainability at the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), provided an overview of the TTC’s transition to eBuses. The historical review, along with recounts of wins and losses, help to form the pathway towards a fully zero-emission fleet.
Previously, CATTS and TAL held their own conferences, but now the two are combined. Shalaby says, “This is the second time we’re doing it this way with a combined two-day event. CATTS has had its annual event. I think this is the eighth event. TAL also had its own separate annual event called TAL Research Day – this is the fifth.” The most recent iteration was organized largely by postdoctoral fellow (PDF) Kareem Othman and supported by Diego Da Silva (PDF) and Yazeed Abdulhai (PhD candidate).
By Phill Snel