InMotion oMG Mobile Gateway leverages both high-speed cellular and garage Wi-Fi networks.
Sierra Wireless today announced that the Regional Transportation District in Denver, Colorado has deployed InMotion Solutions to support mobile broadband access for automatic vehicle location (AVL) and smart card fare payments aboard more than 1,100 buses in its fixed route fleet.
Denver’s Regional Transportation District (RTD) is one of the top 20 public transit agencies in the United States, providing services to residents across an eight county metro area. From bus and light rail service, to the free MallRide and specialty services, RTD’s goal is to make each customer’s experience the best it can be. This goal is supported by commitments to safe, on-time scheduled service, exceptional customer service, clean vehicles and clear communications.
“We wanted a carrier-agnostic communications platform that would allow us to grow and upgrade as wireless technology changed,” said Tom Hughes, RTD’s Manager, Intelligent Transportation Systems.
“The InMotion Solutions oMG Mobile Gateway connects mobile equipment for our smart card fare system and our new bus AVL system over both a Sprint cellular broadband network and our new 802.11n garage-area Wi-Fi networks.”
“It supports real time communications while buses are on the road and bulk data transfer automatically upon return to the garage. The management system enables us to see how much data is being transmitted, which network is being used, and allows our IT teams to update configurations remotely. It’s a daily ‘heads-up’ tool that we have come to rely on to ensure communications are happening in real time.”
Prior to deploying the oMG Mobile Gateway, RTD was seeking a communications solution to enable secure garage-area data transfer for a planned fare payment system aboard the fixed-route bus fleet. They had also determined that upgrading an aging 450 MHz private two-way radio system, used for AVL/dispatch data communications throughout the District, was unlikely to be able to meet their future real-time communications needs. After evaluating available options for both real-time networking and bulk data exchange for the fleet, RTD was presented with the InMotion solution by the prime contractor for its long-term fleet data communications solution.
“RTD coordinated planned investments in its new fare system and bus AVL solution to deploy a very flexible, high-performance wireless communications solution that can ultimately serve all systems aboard its fleet,” said Scott Davis, Vice President of Worldwide Sales, Enterprise Solutions for Sierra Wireless.
“RTD now possesses the mobile communications technology, management systems and the organizational expertise to efficiently deliver reliable communications to new onboard systems using the latest broadband wireless technologies.”
