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Idaho Statewide Advanced Public
Transportation Systems (APTS) Project
The Idaho Transportation
Department's Division of Public Transportation (ITD PT) has
received a federal grant to deploy advanced public
transportation systems (APTS) statewide. The APTS may
include means to improve communication and tracking of
vehicles, scheduling of trips, maintenance operations and
customer service.
The state has a wide range
of public transportation providers, serving urban and rural
areas with fixed-route and demand-responsive operations.
Provider fleet sizes range from dozens of vehicles to fewer
than five. The challenge facing ITD PT is to identify
technologies that can be effectively procured, operated and
maintained while serving diverse operations.
In order to determine the
need and feasibility for APTS in Idaho, ITD PT will perform
an assessment that identifies the needs of each provider and
categorizes providers by size and needs. The categories will
be based on provider size, services provided and existing
technical capabilities. A "suite" of practical APTS
solutions will be determined for each category, and
providers will select the systems within their suite that
best address their needs.
Another key element of the
APTS Assessment Project will be assessing both the internal
and customer-facing communications needs and capabilities of
the transit providers. The assessment will determine the
suitability of existing internal communications channels
along with the providers' abilities to communicate
effectively with customers through telephony and the web,
and will recommend strategies when the existing
communications infrastructure and methods cannot meet the
demand of future APTS.
The goals of the study are
to:
-
educate,
have involvement with, and get buy-in from the Idaho
transit providers
-
define
and understand the technology differences among the
Idaho providers
-
measure
the current and desired state of communications, for
transit operations
-
determine the future transit communication needs.
Overall, these exercises will provide background
information to be used in developing a deployment plan
for APTS deployment.
Stakeholders for this
project include the following:
·
Idaho
Transportation Department
·
ITD
Division of Public Transportation
·
ACHD
Commuteride
·
Area
Agency on Aging
·
Bannock
Planning Organization
·
Coeur
d’Alene Casino
·
Ketchum/Sun Valley Transit Authority
·
Idaho
Department of Health and Welfare
·
INL -
Transportation/ Alternative Fuels
·
Kootenai
Metropolitan Planning Organization
·
Minidoka
Memorial Hospital
·
North
Idaho Community Express
·
Pocatello
Regional Transit
·
Regional
Public Transportation, Inc.
·
Special
Mobility Services
·
Targhee
Regional Public Transit Authority
·
TRANS IV
Buses
·
Treasure
Valley Transit
·
Valley
Vista Care Corporation
·
Valley
Regional Transit
For more
information, visit the project web site at
www.APTSIdaho.org.
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