Posted on 03/01/2018 12:32:27 PM PST by lightman
Wolf Administration Project to Improve Operations, Customer Service at 32 Transit Systems while Adding Jobs at Pennsylvania Company
3/1/2018-
State College, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT)held an event today to announce it has chosen Avail Technologies Inc. of State College, Pa., to implement a Fixed Route Intelligent Transportation System (FRITS) for 32 transit systems that will offer real-time service information for passengers, flexible fare payment options, and enhanced transit planning.
The company currently employs 92 people, 81 of whom work at the State College headquarters, and anticipates a 10 to 20 percent staff increase because of this and other recent contracts.
"We are using data to improve our operations and customer service throughout the department, and we're excited to expand our efforts in improving transit services," PennDOT Secretary Leslie S. Richards said of the event. "This project will enhance transit agencies' data collection and reporting while improving communications with staff and customers."
In addition to the service improvements that customers will see, the enhancements will assist with monitoring vehicles' condition, automatically count passengers boarding or leaving vehicles, and provide a statewide reporting database for the department and transit agencies.
"The way that people use and interact with transportation services is changing, and that includes public transportation," PennDOT Deputy Secretary for Multimodal Transportation Toby Fauver said at the event. "Better data and technology ultimately improves efficiency and meets customer needs."
The nearly $35.7 million, five-year project will begin this spring and installation is estimated to occur over three years. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority and Port Authority of Allegheny County are not included in the project because of their significant time and resources invested in their own similar systems.
"Avail is thrilled to be working with PennDOT and our state transit agencies to deploy the nation's first statewide Fixed Route Intelligent Transportation System solution, which will create a common technology platform across all agencies to facilitate new operational standards and a level of operational data analysis that has never been seen before," said Avail Technologies Inc.President and CEO Dorsey E. Houtz. "The FRITS project will be watched very closely by other states and again, Avail is thrilled to be on the team that will make PA the nation's shining star of technology adoption in fixed route transit."
Public transportation is available in some form in every Pennsylvania county. To see available services, visit www.penndot.gov in the "Public Transit Options" section of "Travel In PA."
With nearly two decades of nationwide experience serving the transit industry, Avail Technologies is pioneering total transit solutions and offers products for CAD/AVL, Passenger Information Systems, Finance Management, Payroll Processing, Human Resources, Inventory Management, Maintenance, Asset Management, Procurement Management, Operations, Planning/Scheduling,Statistical Reporting Management, as well as federal, state and National Transit Database (NTD) reporting. The company also has an office in Las Vegas,Nev.
MEDIA CONTACT: Rich Kirkpatrick or Erin Waters-Trasatt, 717-783-8800
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That is $7.1 million and change per year.
For that, they will increase their 90 person workforce by "10 to 20 percent"--9 to 18 jobs.
WITH THAT AMOUNT OF CORPORATE WELFARE THOSE HAD BETTER BE SIX-FIGURE JOBS!
Typical Election year move by a hack Governor.
Nothing is surprising with Tommie “the Commie” Wolf.
PA corporate welfare ping.
PennDOT is terrible to work with.
Staffed by retards with power trips.
He’s such a useless ass.
As I understood the article, the 90 who are there do nothing but shuffle papers; and the work is SO exhausting that they need to add 10 to 20% more. Also of note is the news that they have an office in Las Vegas. How many annual junkets to Vegas does each employee get?
FRITS -- what a cool name! Somehow I think the equally cool names GOOGLE and WAZE do this stuff far better, far cheaper, far faster, and with weekly improvements. Sounds like Pennsylvania is stuck in buggy whip days.
so....if Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are excluded, what does this really cover? A three-stop Toonerville Trolley in Williamsport?
Much as it pains me to say this, the boondoggle might actually benefit the red "T" of midstate & northern tier counties...including Wolf's home county.
Gotta admit it is nice to see transit dollars NOT going to SEPTA.
Red Rose transit serving Lancaster County, Capital Area Transit serving Cumberland & Dauphin Counties; RabbitTransit serving York & Adams Counties.
Where I came from in New York State and then New Jersey while Democrats are Scum, Republicans are dumb. Therefore I will vote for any candidate who opposed Wolf. However what I don't know about the two announced Republicans in the GOP Primary for governor leaves me suspicious.
Welcome to e Keystone State.
Scott Wagner is a self-made “rags to riches” businessman who pulled off a stunning WRITE-IN victory four years ago to win his State Senate seat.
That victory against the GOP-E might well have been one of the inspirations for DJT’s campaign for the White House.
If you like Trump as President you’ll love Wagner as Governor.
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