Beginning on December 5th, TransIT Services of Frederick County’s Connector service will be equipped with automatic vehicle location (AVL) and automatic passenger counting (APC) systems. The AVL system, provided by RouteMatch, utilizes GIS technology to determine the real time of a bus arrival to a respective TransIT stop. RouteMatch has a complementary app, RouteShout 2.0, for TransIT riders to download to their smartphones. The technology will greatly benefit riders because they will be able to set alerts to notify them of the arrival time to their specific stop – allowing the rider to plan to arrive at their stop with minimized wait time. RouteShout 2.0 is available in the App Store and in the Google Play Store as well as on a computer.
The AVL system can also be utilized by riders who may not have a smart phone but have the ability to text. All TransIT bus stop signs are being retrofitted to include specific stop and route information as well as information on each of TransIT’s smartphone apps - TransIT ezFARE, the mobile ticketing app, and RouteShout for bus location and arrival times. Riders who are looking to receive next bus arrival times via text should text the unique STOP ID # on the bus stop sign to 25252.
The software provided by RouteMatch also includes an automated passenger counter (APC) system for TransIT’s drivers. Historically, drivers recorded data manually to a daily shift report, and that data had to be entered into a spreadsheet. With the upgrade in technology to APC, data will available in real time and ridership fluctuations will be able to be measured as minutely as location and time of day.
