ITS Projects Book January 2003


Project Title:   CITY OF BROWNSVILLE-BUS ITS PROJECT
     
Project Status:   In Progress
     
Project Type:   Deployment/Integration
     
Project Description:   This project is the FY 2002 ITS Integration Program for Brownsville, Texas. This project seeks to address public transportation shortfalls in the City of Brownsville. Identified shortfalls include inefficient scheduling of passengers on paratransit service, inadequate coordination between fixed route transit operations and paratransit operations, lack of optimal routing on transit and paratransit services, lack of Web presence for the transit system, maintenance-related slow reaction times, and congestion caused by deficient routing patterns. The Brownsville Urban System (BUS) will integrate the operations centers of public transportation provided by fixed route transit and demand-response paratransit. Fixed route transit and paratransit systems will integrate into a wide area network connected to the Internet.

Primary project activities to address these limitations include:

- Deployment of Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) systems and Mobile Data Terminals (MDT) on all revenue-generating vehicles in both the paratransit and transit fleets. The AVLs and MDTs will support real-time communication with the main operations center.

- Establishment of a computerized dispatching and management center to monitor and control the entire fleet. Dispatchers will have the capability to monitor fleet vehicles during both revenue-generating hours and deadhead hours, communicate directly with drivers, and monitor passenger parameters (such as movements and counts).

- Upon completion of the integration of the paratransit and fixed route transit fleets, BUS will link the transit operations center with the City servers/networks at the Brownsville Public Library. Through installation of T-1 lines and software acquisition, passengers will be able to view real-time transit information over any Internet access source, schedule trips on demand-responsive service, upload comments and suggestions, and track bus movements.
     
Project Location:   Brownsville, Texas
     
Project Partner(s):   FHWA, City of Brownsville-Brownsville Urban System (BUS), Brownsville Public Library
     
Project Start Date:   September 2002
     
Project End Date:   April 2004
     
Estimated Total ITS Funds:   $206,830
     
Estimated Total Project Cost:   $413,660

Project Contacts:    
     
Mark Olson
FHWA Texas Division, HPC-TX
(512) 536-5972
Ext.
Norma Zamora
City of Brownsville-BUS
(956) 541-4881
Ext.



U.S. Department of Transportation, Intelligent Transportation Systems