Long Beach Transit deploys smart lighting and real-time signage
Long Beach Transit has started a pilot project to deliver well-lit bus stops with real-time bus arrival information to transit users in Signal Hill, Calif.
Long Beach Transit is a leader in adopting smart lighting and real-time information technologies to enhance user experience and encourage choice ridership.
The agency is in the process of deploying more than 100 Urban Solar PV Stop+ pole-mounted lighting systems equipped with ECM Connect™ technology. Eighteen of these systems are paired with Papercast e-paper real-time information signs as part of a pilot project.
ECM Connect™ Equipped Lighting and Power Systems
ECM Connect™ equipped lighting systems are monitored and managed remotely by Urban Solar staff to ensure that critical infrastructure stays up and running. Long Beach Transit maintenance staff can also check in on their lighting systems at any time and receive optional email alerts. This technology was developed specifically for solar lighting applications in partnership with Huntsville-based OutdoorLink Inc.
As well as offsetting the cost of routine site visits, ECM Connect™ allows for remote rebooting of digital signage and enables remote configuration of lighting profiles to maximizes light output throughout the year.
Real-Time Signage
Long Beach Transit selected Boca Raton-based ETA Transit to supply and install 23-inch e-paper displays manufactured by UK-based Papercast. These displays provide up-to-the-minute bus arrival information.
Each e-paper display is mounted on a 2.5-inch bus stop pole. Installing grid-connected lighting and signage at these bus stops would have involved significant costs for trenching and cabling, as well as major site disruption. Instead, a PV Stop+ system provides standalone power for both security lighting and signage.
“We first helped Long Beach Transit deploy solar-powered real time information signs over five years ago,” says Eben Lindsey, director of Business Development at Urban Solar. “Thanks to ultra-low power draw, e-paper signage and ECM ConnectTM technology, the cost to deploy and operate signage and lighting at bus stops has fallen dramatically since that time.”