Public transit systems all over the United States are working hard to provide excellent, timely and convenient service for all of their riders. With the rising cost of fuel and limited access to funding, systems are working hard to consistently improve their public perception and develop systems that are customer-focused and easy-to-use. Austin, Texas, is no different. Austin is a growing and vibrant city in the heart of Texas. Often referred to as “The Live Music Capital of the World” and “Silicon Hills”, Austin has a reputation as an eclectic, rapidly growing city with a high quality of life. Home to the University of Texas’ main campus and also Texas’ capital city, Austin has also become known as a high-tech hotbed with many technology and dot-com employers operating in the area. The progressive nature of the city of Austin is also displayed in its public transit system as the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Capital Metro) is pursuing new services and technologies to better serve the people of its metropolitan area.

Capital Metro realized that it wanted to continue to provide excellent service to its riders while improving the utilization of its organizational assets and its team of employees. So in September 2006, Capital Metro announced that Orbital Transportation Management Systems (Orbital TMS) would be providing its OrbCAD computer-aided dispatch (CAD) and automatic vehicle location (AVL) system along with several other intelligent transportation systems (ITS) features for a price of $12.5 million. The OrbCAD system will provide Capital Metro with a state-of-the-art suite of real-time and analytical tools that will assist Capital Metro in improving the operating efficiency of Capital Metro’s 550 vehicle fleet of local and express bus, and paratransit on-demand services as well as its forthcoming commuter rail service. Additional ITS systems, such as SmartTraveler, a real-time passenger information system, and SmartStop next-stop audio and visual onboard announcements will also provide Capital Metro’s passengers with new customer-focused tools that will make it more attractive to use the public transit system when traveling throughout the Austin metropolitan area.

Helping Capital Metro to improve the overall efficiency of its services, the productivity of its employees, and to increase the level of customer service are key goals of the project. Capital Metro’s goal is to allow its employees to receive specific, accurate information and data from the CAD/AVL system to allow it to better manage its fleet of vehicles while providing Capital Metro’s customers with new pieces of information that will translate into appealing fixed-route, paratransit and commuter rail services for many years to come.

Furthermore, implementation of this system will help Capital Metro to increase its visibility within the Austin community and to continue to improve its customer service initiatives. Hopefully this will make the public transit system easier-to-use and will increase ridership. Orbital will be implementing its paratransit systems for Capital Metro in the spring of 2008 while the fixed-route and commuter rail systems will follow in the fall of 2008.

Some of the important highlights and capabilities provided by the CAD/AVL and ITS systems include:

• Real-Time Passenger Information
  Delivery of real-time transit information to the public is increasing in overall importance and becoming an integral part of transit ITS systems. SmartTraveler, a real-time traveler information system will allow Capital Metro’s passengers to view up-to-the-minute schedule information at its park-and-rides and major transit centers. In addition to signs at terminals and stops, its customers will be able to receive near-real-time information on Capital Metro’s Web site and via its interactive voice response (IVR) system. Integration to these passenger information systems will increase the variety of methods that the people of Austin have in accessing up-to-the-minute public transit information.

  This system is able to leverage the existing communications system investment by utilizing the fleet radio data channels for data communications with the park-and-ride, transit center and rail station signs. This improves the accuracy of the information being transmitted to the signs while avoiding the recurring cost of monthly cellular expenses that are sometimes used to transmit data to the bus stop signs.

• Automatic Next Stop Announcements
  SmartStop automated vehicle annunciation (AVA) system will provide audio and visual announcements that meet ADA requirements. Once a vehicle operator has logged on, the system is automated for the remainder of the day. No additional information needs to be entered between trips, even when the vehicle is interlined. Furthermore, Capital Metro will be able to update its own audio stop announcement information as stops are added within its service area.

• Paratransit Features
  OrbStar, a full-color, touch screen mobile data terminal (MDT) will be provided for Capital Metro’s paratransit service. The unit will provide paratransit operators with turn-by-turn audio directions that are also displayed on a continuously updated full color map. The system will also feed dynamically updated trip manifests to the vehicle operator so that changes that are made to the manifests throughout the service day via the paratransit scheduling system are fed to the operator for increased efficiency.

  Capital Metro’s paratransit customers will also benefit because once a vehicle comes within a few miles of a scheduled pickup, the system will send a message to Capital Metro’s interactive voice response (IVR) system that will be integrated to provide the system to call the next passenger and let him or her know that the vehicle is on its way. This will provide Capital Metro’s passengers with a new level of customer service while hopefully reducing dwell time at the customer pickup location. Additionally, this should help Capital Metro reduce the number of no shows.

• Simplified Communication with Dispatch
  A vehicle operator will be able to send important and frequently used text messages to dispatch via the full-color MDT. Dispatchers will be able to obtain specific information regarding various incidents with improved situational awareness so that they are able to make more informed decisions to better respond to situations in the operating environment. The new MDT will improve communications between dispatchers and vehicle operators and will also serve as the vehicle operator’s command module for all of the ITS systems, such as the vehicle’s SmartCount automatic passenger counters (APCs) and the SmartStop automated vehicle annunciation (AVA) system that will provide ADA mandated next-stop announcements within the vehicle.

• Performance Assessment
  The CAD/AVL system monitors and calculates schedule adherence and provides information to dispatch and to the vehicle operator via the provided MDT. This will allow both parties to access the real-time performance of the vehicle that assists all operations team members in decision-making. The vehicle also stores and provides additional operational information to management for analysis that is used by Capital Metro staff to assess overall operations and to make cost-saving improvements and adjustments as necessary.

  As part of the multi-modal solution, Capital Metro’s fixed-route, paratransit and commuter rail dispatchers will be able to access different reports and incident forms at each of its operations centers. The forms and displays are configurable for the different operating conditions of each type of transit service and allows the dispatchers to see screens and information that are relevant to their type of mode only. At the same time, this solution is integrated so that supervisors can see information from each others’ modes to assist in decision making and overall situational awareness.

• Web-Based Network