With new tracking systems on board its 14 fixed-route buses, which include global positioning systems, the county-run Schuylkill Transportation System plans to help its riders determine if their bus will be on time.
The nearly $743,000 project will include the installation of LED monitors at Union Station in Pottsville and an upgrade of the STS website, to allow riders to go online to see if their buses will be on time, Shawn Updegrove, STS director of transit operations, said Dec. 19.
"This is essentially just bringing us up to speed on what other transit agencies have had for many years. These units will feed us real time data telling us where the bus is," Updegrove said.
It will also help the county's public transportation service in its long-range planning, according to Mike Micko, STS executive director.
"The new systems include passenger counters, so they will be able to give us a more realistic picture of where these people are getting on the bus, where they're getting off. It will help us determine which routes are productive," Micko said Dec. 17.
The entire project, including the installation of the operational signs at Union Station, 300 S. Centre St., should be complete by April or May, Updegrove said.
The total project cost is $742,926. Half the project was financed with $371,500 in federal 5208 funds STS received in 2003. The rest of the project was funded by $346,684 from in state funding and $24,742 from the county, Micko said.
Planning started in 2011. Earlier this year, STS hired Avail Technologies Inc., State College, to do the installations.
Since 1999, Avail has provided cost-effective engineering services and cutting edge technology to transit operations, according to its website at availtec.com.
In 2001, Avail installed such systems for The Berks Area Reading Transportation Authority, according to Troy Whitesel, Avail senior account executive.
"That was one of our very early projects as a company. Since that time, we've worked with 35 different transit companies from all over the United States, from Florida to Atlanta to Alaska," Whitesel said.
"We looked at the system at BARTA and how it worked and how it had information about all their routes. Of course, BARTA is larger thaN we are. It would tell you if the bus was on time or if it was delayed, what dock number it would be at and so forth. It's customer-friendly," Micko said.
In July, Avail installed mobile data terminals equipped with GPS in the 14 fixed-route buses at STS.
"They're located on the dashboards," Updegrove said.
At the same time, Avail installed "automatic passenger counters" above the doors of the buses, Updegrove said.
Since then, STS and Avail have been testing the system using computers at the STS maintenance and administrative facility at Saint Clair Industrial Park.
"Right now, we don't have any computers at Union Station," Updegrove said.
On Nov. 12, STS applied for a permit to hang the operational signs from the rafters of Union Station.
"This is part of a bus tracking program that we had installed on all of our fixed route buses. This allows for the real-time tracking of our buses that will be able to be conveyed to riders over the Internet and through signs we would like to hang at Union Station," Updegrove said in the application.
The tracking information will be broadcast on LCD monitors inside the terminal and two LED signs to be installed outside the terminal, Updegrove said.
"One monitor will be mounted at either end of the primary overhang attached to the Union Station and AAA building by bolting or welding supports to the existing tress structure. Every attempt will be made to blend any additional mounting material into the existing style of the overhang. Signs will be positioned for maximum viewing angles from all six docks at Union Station," Updegrove said in the application.
"The benefit to the rider is, if the rider calls in, we can tell them in real time where the bus is at, so if there's any kind of traffic delays we will know where the bus is at," Updegrove said Dec. 19.
The Pottsville Historical Architectural Review Board and city council approved the permit.
"We don't have a completion date at this point," Micko said.
Updegrove estimated it would either March or April.
Meanwhile, STS is in the process of upgrading its website at go-sts.com and Updegrove said there will be a link on the site to allow visitors to see where STS's 14 transit buses are at any moment.
STS has been around since 1982, when the Schuylkill County Commissioners led the effort to start the system.
The City of Pottsville opened Union Station, a $16.1 million three-story building at 300 S. Centre St., on June 10, 2011. It was designed as the main terminal for STS and home for the Schuylkill County Visitors Bureau.
QEI Construction of Wyomissing, Berks County, has had an office on the ground floor of Union Station since November 2011. Earlier this year, the Schuylkill Economic Development Corporation and the Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce started making plans to move to Union Station. SEDCO has since hired QEI as the general contractor to conduct a "$350,000 to $400,000" project to renovate the second floor, a 6,004-square-foot space, SEDCO President Frank J. Zukas said previously.