Trimess

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

$30,000,000 spent on this

As described in Friday’s INSIDEINFO, six vehicles equipped with a new radio and Mobile Data Terminal (MDT) pulled out of Merlo into revenue service. The purpose of this pilot is to test the system in revenue service to find and correct any issues reported by operators and dispatchers prior to full fleet installation.


This pilot signifies the beginning of a new era that will improve service to our customers and communication with operators. The replacement of our current—and very outdated system -- will give Dispatchers the ability to see the whole system at a glance and to make quick adjustments to our service. Operators will have better screens to view, no more data cards to keep track of, improved voice quality and quicker response time from supervisors to concerns they are having on the road. Maintenance should see fewer road calls with improved monitoring of bus performance resulting in better detection and reporting of failures. The result will be higher quality service and more satisfied customers.

There are three phases to having the system fully functional. Phase 1 includes this pilot and any fixes that may be needed.  Phase 2, in January 2013, includes completion of fleet installation.  In Phase 3 new ticket printers – with clearer and easier to reach tickets and transfers will be installed and functional in June 2013. Also, there will be a parallel process for LIFT and the non-revenue and light rail fleet once the fixed route fleet installation is complete.

The benefits we will see with this new system are vast.  Over the next several months you will continue to hear about our progress.

1 comment:

Erik H. said...

And will there be performance tracking of this to ensure that the $30 million spent will result in all of the improvements outlined - and if not, there will be heads rolling (up to and including McFarlane)?

Oh, wait, this is TriMet. Failure to meet performance expectations is a "success". Nobody got fired for WES.