YOLOBUS Selects Mentor Streets Transit Solution

February 6, 2009

YOLOBUS, located in Yolo County, California, has implemented Mentor Engineering's Mentor Streets Transit intelligent transportation systems (ITS) solution in its 50-vehicle fleet. Streets includes software applications for computer-aided dispatch/automatic vehicle location, incident management, and schedule and route adherence, as well as in-vehicle Mentor Ranger computers.

With the neighbouring city of Sacramento and the University of California at Davis as important destinations, transporting people to and from this mostly rural county was a challenge. YOLOBUS wanted an ITS solution that would equip passengers with accurate bus schedule and location information, and give managers a transparent view of driver activity to better plan routes and respond to customer questions. With Streets, passengers can access real-time bus location information via the Ride Guide website designed by Mentor.

As Erik Reitz, Transit Planner at Yolo County Transportation, explained: "The website plays an important role in serving customers because riders can see almost as much information as our dispatchers when it comes to the precise location of their bus. It's a valuable tool for riders when planning their schedules, and I believe it will decrease the number of phone calls our customer service agents handle."

Mentor Ranger, the rugged mobile computer installed in each fixed-route bus, has GPS functionality that tells the Streets software where the bus is on the route. This reportedly enables peripheral devices such as stop annunciators and in-vehicle LED signs to deliver accurate information to onboard passengers, and allows drivers to focus on the road.

In addition to AVL information, Ranger facilitates secure data communication between drivers and dispatchers. Ranger also delivers real-time schedule and route adherence details to drivers, alerting them when they're running early or late.

"Because of our large service area, the Mentor system is invaluable in saving us time," said Reitz. "If a bus breaks down the driver can instantly communicate that information using Ranger, dispatch can verify the bus's location with the AVL maps, and a replacement bus can immediately be dispatched to cover the route."

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