C-Tran will use AI to make Vine on Mill Plain trips smoother and quicker

Starting in May, several C-Tran Red Line buses on Mill Plain Boulevard will experience a smoother ride, thanks to a new traffic technology that helps reduce delays at intersections.

C-Tran has partnered with LYT, a California-based company specializing in artificial intelligence and traffic technology, to roll out a three-month pilot program on the The Vine on Mill Plain. The program will use an advanced Transit Signal Priority — a system that helps traffic flow and improve travel times for buses at intersections with traffic lights.

But what does it mean to use this technology on buses?

As Red Line buses travel the corridor, the system will send data about the buses’ locations to an online system that stores and processes the information. That information will then be used to help adjust traffic lights for faster travel. This system can shorten the length of time for red lights or extend green lights for buses — making trips smoother and quicker.

C-Tran already uses Transit Signal Priority in some form on Mill Plain, Highway 99 and Fourth Plain Boulevard. The biggest difference with the new system is that the signals will be able to communicate with one another to improve timing for all road users, including transit, rather than each signal functioning separately, C-Tran spokesman Eric Florip said in an email.

The new system will be initially used on The Vine on Mill Plain. According to C-Tran, The Vine on Mill Plain saw approximately 740,800 trips last year.

The following Red Line intersections will be impacted: Hearthwood Drive, Olympia Drive, 139th Avenue, 136th Avenue, 131st Avenue, 126th Avenue, 123rd Avenue, 120th Avenue and 117th Avenue, Grand Boulevard, V Street and Reserve Street.

“Those specific intersections were chosen because they are on a stretch of the Mill Plain corridor that will help provide a representative sample for us on how this technology could impact our operations in similar corridors throughout Vancouver and potentially throughout Clark County,” said Taylor Eidt, C-Tran’s deputy director of capital projects and planning.

C-Tran officials say other drivers on the road will likely not notice any impact as they travel Mill Plain Boulevard.

“We really don’t expect people traveling in cars or walking or biking to have any noticeable impact, any different than they do today,” Eidt said. “If anything, we would expect that they would have a smoother trip moving through the corridor than they do today.”

Editor’s note: C-Tran’s deputy director of capital projects and planning is Taylor Eidt, whose name was misspelled in an earlier version of the story.