Addition of load_count to board_alight.txt

[sylvan-sh]

This change seeks to include a field called load_count in board_alight.txt. The purpose of this field would be to provide an absolute ridership count. Currently, without knowing a starting zero and/or vehicle capacity, there are no fields in GTFS-ride that could contain this data either directly or in a calculated manner. The change is sought to be included in the January 2018 quarterly review.

[carletop]

+1 This change should help avoid the situation where an agency has to leave out valuable data because it is not able to be converted to a specified format.

[portedav]

+1

[BenFields22]

+1

[jkkeck]

Would this be the balanced load that is adjusted so that each trip starts and ends with a zero? Could there be benefits of including an additional field identifying if the load_count field is balanced? With a short, high-frequency transit circulator route (like at an airport), or at a synthetic terminal on an out-and-back loop trip where passengers are expected to board an outbound bus to travel inbound, the application of a balancing adjustment may not occur or be appropriate.

[sylvan-sh]

@jkkeck This would be an absolute count of riders. A non-zero value at the start and end of a trip is possible and could indeed be expected in the examples you've mentioned. This change isn't addressing a balanced load value, but future changes could certainly look at such. Are there situations that you see where a balanced count value would provide information not obtainable from existing fields?

[sylvan-sh]

With 3 +1 votes and 0 outstanding -1 votes, the change has been added to the Jan 18 quarterly update.