Transportation Agency Puts It in Drive with Vehicle Cellular Technology
Pierce Transit Swaps It’s Outdated Land-Based Radios for LTE RoutersLand-mobile radio (LMR) has long been the go-to communication for public transportation fleets. But LMR simply can’t support many of the technologies common on today’s buses and transit vehicles, such as automatic vehicle location (AVL), fareboxes, surveillance cameras, digital signs, and passenger Wi-Fi.
When Pierce Transit, a public transport operator in Pierce County near Seattle, wanted to replace their land-based radios, their IT team realized that in-vehicle cellular broadband was the next logical step. Serving 292 square miles, Pierce Transit required reliable connections for their CAD and AVL systems, DVRs for on-board cameras, and Wi-Fi for their passengers.
With many more projects on the horizon, they knew they needed a cellular solution for their transit buses that could scale.
As Aaron Lenk, communications technologist assistant manager for Pierce Transit, explained, “We began with Cradlepoint routers on roughly half of our bus fleet, establishing better public Wi-Fi and building our digital camera system. But we eventually discovered the benefits of ‘cellularizing’ our on-board data as well.”
Pierce Transit adopted Cradlepoint’s NetCloud Service for Mobile and wireless edge routers—with FirstNet and Verizon SIM cards for emergency communication—in more than 500 of their vehicles. Since introducing this in-vehicle network, they have been delighted by the benefits of deploying mobile broadband with cloud-based network management.
Faster Connection Speeds for Real-Time Video and Data on Buses
LTE gave Pierce Transit the ability to accurately track its buses with GPS. While land-based radio pulls location data every few minutes, LTE provides it every 10 seconds. Updated bus location information is particularly useful to passengers. With LTE, riders can receive information about potential delays directly to their phones.
“We’ve been offering phone updates on bus location to customers for some time, but LTE has actually made that information available,” offered Brent Campbell, information technology supervisor for Pierce Transit. “In the past, our radio system would sometimes misplace vehicles because they went into a tunnel. With Cradlepoint’s mobile broadband solutions, we have become much better at predicting where buses are going and when they will arrive.”
Improving data transfer is also critical when a dangerous incident takes place on or around a bus. With their new high-speed LTE, Pierce Transit staff and law enforcement are given to a live view of the incident in question.
Managing Connectivity Across Your Fleet
Equipping buses with on-board camera systems and reliably tracking them is one thing. Monitoring the network connectivity of hundreds of buses moving across 292 square miles is another.
Pierce Transit’s IT team deploys Cradlepoint NetCloud Manager to handle their network from one central location through the cloud. This saves them the trouble of having to send staff members to troubleshoot every issue that arises in person.
“We currently have more than 500 routers,” Christian Handsaker, assistant manager of networking and security for Pierce Transit, explained, “and our system wouldn’t work if we had to manage each one individually.”
With NetCloud, Pierce Transit’s IT team can quickly schedule updates to their network. With easy-to-read dashboards, they have critical information such as per-vehicle data usage at their fingertips. Additionally, Pierce Transit’s team can examine why particular buses are sending and receiving an unusually high amount of data, allowing them to make evidence-based decisions about their fleet.
Scalability for the Future Needs of Public Transit
Adding mobile broadband to their bus fleet has given Pierce Transit the ability to continue to onboard new devices and applications. In the years to come, Pierce will roll out digital fare systems, as well as digital signs, transit signal priority (TSP) devices, and newer CAD and AVL systems.
Cradlepoint’s cellular connectivity solutions, available from USAT, will make all of this possible.
As an Elite (5G Certified) Partner of Cradlepoint, and as a key part of the Data Solutions team at MCA, USAT is capable of offering transit agencies complete vehicle upfitting services and communications solutions.
Contact USAT
USAT can help public and private transit organizations update, manage, and replace cellular hardware for fixed and mobile applications with new 4G and 5G devices from top-tier manufacturers like Cradlepoint.
USAT LLC, a key part of the data solutions team at Mobile Communications America, exists to serve our nations critical infrastructure by creating secure communication networks that pass data wirelessly between key systems — linking remote personnel and machine assets. We have partnered with industry leaders that manufacture top-of-the-line communications devices, management platforms, and accessories to suit the specific needs of a vast array of industries in a variety of applications and environments.
*Original Article Credit Goes to Cradlepoint.
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