Indra has received a $1.7m contract from Chatham Area Transit (CAT), the transport agency of Savannah, Georgia in the US, for the installation of vehicle tracking management system (VTMS) on its buses and adapted vehicle fleet.
Under the one year contract, Indra will install VTMS to control theCAT's fleet of 80 buses and 29 vehicles modified for the disabled, which will enhance efficiency, safety and quality of the transport service.
Indra's solution comprises many sub-systems, including passenger information, fleet management, passenger counting and on-board surveillance, with an additional incorporation options including ticketing and vehicle health monitoring.
The system's new on-demand management module allows planning of routes in line with transport requests, which will enhance transportation for people with disabilities.
Features of VTMS technology include on-board management, control and GPS location system, the GPRS and 3G mobile communications infrastructure and the control centre, which examines and controls the service, relying on a geographic information system (GIS).
According to Indra, the technology allows the determination at all times of the location of each vehicle of the fleet and ease real-time decisions during accidents, back-up needs, and any other deviations from the planned service.
The solution also produces reports and graphs which will enable control of the service and measurement of its quality constraints to adapt it to the real demand of its users.
Passenger information system of the new solution will allow Savannah's public bus users to access the information of next stops, transfers to other lines, probable incidents and expected arrival times.
The new system also offers on-board video surveillance tool which will be incorporated into the OAS to allow the images to be recorded, transmitted and viewed in real time to enhance the security.
Indra said that the video surveillance system will be initially installed in five buses, as a pilot scheme during the OAS implementation phase, and then followed by remaining fleet.
