Category: Industry

  • The Ultimate Transit Industry Glossary: Your Go-To Source for Industry Terms

    In the world of public transit, understanding industry language is critical. Whether you’re evaluating new technology, reading procurement documents, or coordinating with vendors, transit acronyms and technical terms are everywhere. That’s why we built the ETA Transit Glossary—a helpful resource to support transit professionals like you to quickly decode industry jargon. Whether you’re running daily…

  • Navigating the Transit Revolution: Part V—The Future

    As technology continues its rapid advancement, the future of GTFS development is marked by a commitment to addressing real-world challenges and embracing emerging innovations. Recent contributions and pull requests to the GTFS repository demonstrate an ongoing effort to refine and enhance the specification.

  • Navigating the Transit Revolution: Part IV—A Gateway to Historical Transit Operation Data

    Transit ITS Data Exchange Specification (TIDES) is a remarkable GTFS extension that delves into the realm of historical transit operation data. This repository provides data schemas and tools to support the access, management, and improvement of historical transit operations data, including vehicle operations, passenger activity, fare collection, and other similar data. TIDES bridges the gap…

  • The key to transit technology satisfaction—effective communication, reliable hardware

    In the realm of mass transit technology, it is a rare occurrence to encounter a potential customer who enthusiastically praises their current CAD/AVL (Computer-Aided Dispatch/Automatic Vehicle Location) vendor. To put it simply, transit operators are often dissatisfied with their CAD/AVL vendor. According to our annual surveys of transit agencies, more than two-thirds express their discontent.…

  • The Need for Rugged Transit-Grade Computers in Harsh Transit Environments

    Introduction All-in-one tablets are unreliable and unsuitable for public transit applications. Instead, transit agencies must consider investing in transit-grade computers to record and display mission-critical information. Functioning onboard digital devices are essential to: improve operating efficiencies. automate NTD data collection. and enhance the rider experience. Though consumer-grade tablets and all-in-one Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs) with…

  • What factors influence customer satisfaction?

    Communication, not technology, determines the satisfaction with transit systems It is a rarity in the mass transit technology market when we strike up a conversation with a potential customer, and they sing the praises of their current ITS vendor. Let me say it another way—transit operators aren’t happy with their tech partners. According to our…

  • Are you ready to erase paper inspections?

    One of the more popular feature requests we receive for our SPOT™ ITS platform is digital pre-and post-trip inspection, also known as driver vehicle inspection reports (DVIR). It certainly seems that transit operators are eager to transition from manual or paper processes to connected digital logging and report solutions. Historically trip inspection involves four things:…

  • Are your APCs ‘down’ for the count?

    Maximize the efficiency of your automatic passenger counters for NTD certification-worthy results. By Matt Schroeder Director of Marketing, ETA Transit Systems I am going to dispel a myth for your right off the bat. The FTA (Federal Transit Association) does not provide certifications for APC hardware. Never have, never will. Anyone that tells you that…

  • The screen generation will transform transit tech.

    What’s also not a secret is that Millennials (and their younger Gen Z counterparts) are among the fastest-growing adopters of transit and the first generation not to view vehicle ownership as a status symbol. However, like car ownership is driven by the latest bells and whistles, public transit will be pushed by these younger generations…