Tag: technology

  • 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…

  • Navigating the Transit Revolution: Part II—The History of GTFS

    GTFS has a rich history that reflects the evolution of public transportation data sharing. It emerged as a response to the challenges posed by fragmented and proprietary data formats, aiming to create a standardized way for transit agencies to share their information with developers and users. To provide necessary context for current and future GTFS…

  • Pre-plan your RFP evaluation

    Tools to help your RFP to set realistic expectations and deliver a focused review. Over our history, ETA Transit has submitted hundreds of proposals for mass transit technology RFPs. We’ve won some, we’ve lost some, and we’ve seen RFPs pulled without warning. Win, lose, or draw our practice is to reach out to transit agencies…

  • 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…

  • A cash-free future begs you to take my money.

    Versatile payment collection capabilities simplify payment and meets the preference of the rider. While regular transit riders will likely stick to a single form of payment for their transit fares, periodic or impromptu riders will require flexibility in their fare transactions.

  • Next-generation route management expands options for efficiency.

    By Matt Schroeder Director of Marketing, ETA Transit Systems As a marketer, I’m constantly exposed to new and interesting facts. Did you know that a transit agency on average spends between two and six months researching new routes? Or how about this one: 44 percent of dispatchers spend at least 30 minutes inputting route changes…

  • Part II: Marketing transit on the cheap.

    We’re continuing our look at what local public transit agencies can do to market the technological investments they’ve made in their operations. If you haven’t done so yet, take a few minutes to Read part 1: Changing the perception about public transit to get some background information about the challenges public transit operations face when…

  • 3 tips to build a right-sized transit tech spec.

    See if this sounds like you… You work at a transit agency, and you wear a lot of hats. And not only are you overworked, but your staff is too. Most days, success is defined by just keeping your buses moving smoothly. You desperately need an upgrade to your Intelligent Transit System (or perhaps you…