GO Transit picks INIT for fleet management system

INIT said Tuesday that GO Transit, a division of Metrolinx, has chosen the company to deploy a new fleet management system for 47 GO Transit railcars, as well as 424 GO buses and 50 non-revenue vehicles.

The contract calls for an advanced Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) package which includes an intermodal CAD/AVL system, on-board mobile data terminals, automatic passenger counting technology, next stop announcements, in-vehicle variable message signs, real-time vehicle diagnostics, and interfaces to existing destination signs, bike rack sensors, and wheelchair lift sensors, INIT said.

Chesapeake, Va.-based INIT says the system will track revenue and non-revenue vehicles to improve enterprise productivity of current operations and provide enhanced services to GO users throughout the Greater Toronto area.

Also incorporated into the new contract is the feed of real-time bus information to Metrolinx’ online Customer Information Service (CIS) and their new Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. The new system will gather bus and rail real-time locations and predict arrival times for the dissemination of service alerts to travelers and other regional transit agencies, facilitating transfers and intermodal flows.

As part of the second phase of the project, vehicle logic units, mobile data terminals, cellular data communications and audio annunciators will be installed on one coach per train. The vehicle logic unit will integrate with future in-vehicle Variable Message Signs, as well as an on-board security camera system that will be installed in the future. The audio annunciators will be integrated with GO’s existing public address system on all rail coaches to provide automated next rail station announcements in every coach of the train.

The project is set to begin this year. GO Transit’s rail fleet consists of approximately 520 bilevel coach and cab passenger cars.