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By Lookout Staff
May 30 -- Soon everyone who gets on or off the Big
Blue Bus will count, thanks to some high-tech help officials
boast will make Santa Monica's entire transit system run smoother
in coming years.
In an effort to better plan the local bus system -- which
like many transit systems has been struggling financially
as gas prices escalate -- City officials are on the verge
of installing new technology that will network the system
through satellite technology to better project route usage,
and ultimately, count each head riding the Big Blue Bus.
"This is clearly going to help focus our resources in
the system…and more efficiently use our services,"
said Stephanie Negriff, manager for Big Blue Bus.
In addition to tracking more than 200 buses using satellite
global positioning systems and signs informing the public
on the projected wait time for each bus, infra-red technology
will scan and count each person entering and exiting buses
to keep track of ridership figures in real-time.
"With automated passenger counts, boardings and alightings
totaled on each vehicle can be sorted by bus stop, trip, route,
route segment and time of day," transit officials wrote
in a report to City Council members last week.
"This information will be used primarily to improve
schedule efficiency and better allocate transit resources,"
Negriff said.
Not only are passenger figures important for funding allocations
from the County and other sources, but they are often used
to determine which routes will be increased, decreased and
even eliminated, the report said.
Part of bus improvements approved in 2002, the "automatic
people counter" will replace a survey system where individual
passengers were counted by hand every three years and compared
to revenues to provide a statistical estimate on riders and
route usage.
Advanced radio communication and a computer-controlled dispatch
system have already been wired in, officials said in their
report.
Trip planning software and scheduling technology have yet
to be installed, the report said.
Currently the "automatic people counter" is operating
at ten percent less capacity than the City and vendor agreed
upon, and the system is being retooled, said City officials.
The entire system is schedule to come on line at the end
of the year.
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