CityBus announced today that its real-time passenger information systems will be unavailable due to a systems upgrade.
General Manager Martin Sennett said CityBus is upgrading its outdated system to provide more reliable information to riders in the future. The system uses GPS locations of buses to publish estimated departure times in real-time. CityBus will take the system off line on Tuesday, September 1st, and the system will be down until the upgrade is complete next Spring.
“Our current system is aging out at eight years old,” said Sennett. “We’ll be expanding our capability by moving from a low-bandwidth radio network to wireless technology with far greater bandwidth. This will improve the speed of transmission and reliability of information when the project is complete.”
Sennett said CityBus regrets the inconvenience to customers who rely on real-time information to plan bus trips. “The temporary loss of real-time information will require riders to rely on scheduled departure times instead of real-time data to plan their trips. We regret that real-time information will not be available, however the upgrade will result in improvements in the long run,” said Sennett.
CityBus is completely revamping its Computer Aided Dispatch/Automated Vehicle Location (CAD/AVL) technologies, which were installed in 2001. CityBus has awarded the upgrade to Mentor Engineering, Inc. at an expense of just over $1 million.
CityBus is ending its relationship with its current CAD/AVL provider effective September 1st, bringing current systems offline.
Real-time information is broadcast to electronic signs at major bus stops like Beering Hall on University Street in West Lafayette, and to users of CityBus’s web site feature called “MyRide.” Users can view real-time information on the web page, wireless devices, or through a Widget placed on a computer desktop. None of these will display real-time departures while CityBus works on the upgrade.
Route schedules are available on CityBus’s web site at www.gocitybus.com. Printed schedules are available at CityBus offices, on buses, at the Purdue University Visitor Information Center, and other locations.
