Technology adoption by public agencies

Existing research on innovation and innovation diffusion has focused generally (though not exclusively) on the private sector. To what degree does the scholarly understanding of how organizations develop, evaluate, and adopt or reject new technologies and practices apply to public agencies, which may operate under a very different set of incentives than private firms do? The use of the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) has transformed the way public transit agencies convey route and schedule information to passengers in the twenty-first century. This research sought to identify patterns with regards to which types of transit agencies were likely to have adopted the GTFS data standard earlier or later. We found that agencies with higher ridership operating in environments with multiple transit providers were likely to have adopted the GTFS standard sooner. This may be be a result of the greater benefits from consistency across multiple agencies, or of the potential for information about new technologies to spread within local markets. 

ViBE Lab Principal Investigator

  • Carole Voulgaris

ViBE Lab Researchers

  • Charuvi Begwani (MUP ‘22)
  • Tianyu Su (DDes ‘23)

Related publications

Voulgaris, Carole Turley, and Charuvi Begwani. 2023. “Predictors of Early Adoption of the General Transit Feed Specification.” Findings, January. https://doi.org/10.32866/001c.5772.

Related conference presentations

Voulgaris, C.T., & C. Begwani. 2022. Predictors of Technology Adoption by Transit Agencies: The Case of General Transit Feed Specification Data. 62nd Annual Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning Conference. Toronto.