Trainspotter Posted November 4, 2008 Share #1 Posted November 4, 2008 $99M GPS plan for buses stalls BY PETE DONOHUE DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER November 3rd 2008 [float=right][/float]NYC Transit may pull the plug on a troubled $99 million project to track buses and post "real" arrival times on bus-stop message boards, the Daily News has learned. Officials have halted some work "pending a decision on the future of the project," according to a report by the agency's outside engineering consultant. NYC Transit lawyers also are reviewing legal options, according to the report, which says the contractor is two years behind schedule and still having technical problems with the GPS tracking system. "It's a dirty, rotten shame," Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign said. "A bus locator system could greatly improve bus service with better dispatching and more real-time information. If your car's GPS can guide you around town, I don't see why buses can't do the same." The report by the Carter-Burgess engineering firm refers to problems in general terms, citing software issues, a high failure rate of onboard equipment and inaccurate arrival times relayed to message boards placed on just a handful of routes in Manhattan so far. Citing inaccurate data, bus managers turned off the dozen or so electronic informational screens that had been installed along East Side bus routes. NYC Transit spokesman Paul Fleuranges declined to comment on the work done by Continental AG, an international electronics firm. A Continental spokeswoman said in a statement that the company is reviewing the Carter-Burgess report and "continues to work with the MTA on the successful completion of the New York City Transit project." The company also contends that the system has met contract requirements and is ready to advance the project, according to the report. NYC Transit signed an approximately $13 million contract for an "Automated Vehicle Locator" system with a division of the Siemens corporation in 2005. The base contract with the division, later purchased by Continental, involved rigging 185 buses running routes on the East Side. The base contract gives NYC Transit two options to expand the bus-tracking and related technology to its entire fleet at a cost of approximately $99 million. The agency has been on a Holy Grail-like quest for such a system. It hired a company for the job in 1996 but fired it four years later for poor performance. Over the years, efforts have been hampered by the inability to maintain continuous signals amid Manhattan's office towers, officials have said. Another problem was calculating arrival times through unpredictable traffic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark1447 Posted November 4, 2008 Share #2 Posted November 4, 2008 damn, and I was just abou to take B/O earlier so I can take the bus everywhere rather then the original route damn u MTA :mad: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Posted November 4, 2008 Share #3 Posted November 4, 2008 damn, and I was just abou to take B/O earlier so I can take the bus everywhere rather then the original route damn u MTA :mad: According to the article its the contractors technical problems thats stalling the project and not the MTA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark1447 Posted November 4, 2008 Share #4 Posted November 4, 2008 According to the article its the contractors technical problems thats stalling the project and not the MTA. so is this similar to the Yellow cabs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Y2Julio Posted November 4, 2008 Share #5 Posted November 4, 2008 I don't think so. It's to be used as the way the train arrival works on the L train. It would tell you how much time till the next bus arrives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eastman346 Posted November 4, 2008 Share #6 Posted November 4, 2008 Scrap the project and save the fare. I dont think people really need to know exactly where a bus is. This could work for the subway where alot of people are being moved at once but not for buses. Does anyone agree? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trainmaster5 Posted November 12, 2008 Share #7 Posted November 12, 2008 From the same company which gave the subways CBTC and the ATS. What do you expect ? CBTC works haphazardly and ATS doesn't work at all. The people who signed off on these boondoggles should be investigated, and if necessary, perp-walked to Federal Court if not for outright fraud then for sheer ineptitude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTD1 Posted November 19, 2008 Share #8 Posted November 19, 2008 We have that system here in LA and the TA had seen ours before deciding to get it. In a few simple words of Ed Kotch "DUMP IT" as this radio system is a joke and does NOTHING of what it claims it will do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radioguy Posted November 19, 2008 Share #9 Posted November 19, 2008 Does anyone know which east side stops have the deactivated screens? I had been asking about this for years, even before they appartently deployed them and haven't seen one yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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