Public Transit

Urban sprawl, rising fuel costs, and safety concerns are placing new demands on most urban area transit systems, while elevating public pressure for safe, reliable, affordable transportation service. As most transit systems fall under the purview of the local government, transit agencies are required to meet these new challenges within the constraints of limited public budgets.

Transit agencies are responding by deploying several systems aboard the fleet to maintain and improve service levels while controlling operating costs. Operational improvements are being achieved through investment in systems for automatic vehicle location, route and schedule management, fare collection, passenger counting, stop annunciation, video monitoring, vehicle telematics, and more. Passenger services are being enhanced with the introduction of passenger Internet access and location-based advertising. Each new onboard system brings with it new opportunities for the communication of data between the bus and the transit operations center. To fully exploit the value of these systems, wireless communication is required both during normal in-service operation of vehicles and at the start and end of shifts through available depot-area broadband networks. In some agencies, separate stand-alone wireless communications solutions have already been implemented for multiple systems on the same vehicle, an inefficient approach that can compromise overall system performance.

With the proliferation of onboard systems, forward-looking fleet managers are now redefining their current bus network architecture and mobile networking strategy. The onBoard Mobile Gateway from In Motion Technology is a dedicated communications platform that enables deployment of an efficient, advanced network architecture aboard the vehicle. Leveraging standards-based networking technology, the Gateway interconnects all systems on the bus and manages access to multiple wireless communications networks. By consolidating bus communications, the onBoard Mobile Gateway improves network performance, eliminates redundant costs for wireless modems, vehicle antennas and commercial wireless services, and simplifies the future evolution of onboard systems and services.