Minneapolis-St. Paul’s Metro Transit is employing an RFID-enabled system to help it locate more than 900 buses at its five parking garages. Prior to installing the system—which is based on ultra-wideband (UWB) active RFID tags—Metro Transit had deployed an automatic vehicle location (AVL) system utilizing GPS technology to identify the locations of its buses once they left the depot and were driven along any of 118 bus routes. Although the AVL system allowed dispatchers to know where the vechiles were on their route, it did not indicate their locations when they were parked under cement roofs in the five garages spread throughout the cities. In this session, hear how the new system enables Metro Transit’s dispatchers to locate buses or assign them out to drivers in the morning, without having to leave their offices. Additionally, hear how mechanics utilize the system to pinpoint vehicles quickly when they require servicing, as well as how dispatchers can immediately locate a particular bus within a garage when a passenger calls in regarding a lost item, or if security video footage from a specific vehicle is required.
Speaker:
Gary Nyberg, Manager of Technology Systems, Bus Operations, Metro Transit