LEXTRAN
14 |
Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | FEBRUARY 2015
"We use the Avail system now
with our AVL, GPS, passenger
counters, electronic GFI fare-
boxes," he said. "A big part of the
AVL/GPS project was the digital
signage to see how the public
would react with our next-de-
parture information."
Tey've also placed new bus
stop signs with a phone number
to call to get exact information on
when the next bus will be arriv-
ing. Lextran Director of Commu-
nity Afairs Jill Barnett said the
use of that system has grown as
expected. Tere was a sof roll out
when the system came online and
gradually, the number of calls in-
creased. "We now average about
40,000 per month," she stated.
She also said, "Afer a few
months of that being online, we
noticed a decrease in the number of
calls that come to our customer ser-
vice room." Burke added, "Its been
very well accepted by everybody."
Te APC allows them to check
ridership against the farebox. And,
in addition to that, "Te NTD
folks let us use that instead of
doing all that manual sampling,"
Burke said. "Tat's helped us a lot.
But the biggest thing has been
the AVL/GPS piece of this thing
allowing us to improve our on-
time performance and passengers
out there knowing where their
bus is.
"Te Avail folks have been
really good at holding our hand
through this process. We're kind
of on our own with it now, if you
will," explained Burke. He said
thinking back, it probably was
about 24 months before they felt
like they really understood it, got
the best value out of it. "If an agen-
For more information, visit www.MassTransitmag.com/11299231
THE BUS shelter Gardenstop, designed by Prajna
Design and Construction, is the result of a public
design contest coordinated by Art in Motion and
Historic Aylesford Neighborhood Association.
"If they have to wait,
they understand that. But it
used to be they had to wait and
had no clue where the bus was."
-ROCKY BURKE