Delaware Transit Corporation
Bus
Vontas OnRoute for CAD/AVL
Vontas Infotainment with Vianova
“This project installed infotainment systems on 237 DART buses with no disruption to DART’s service, and achieving substantial completion of installations, as planned, within thirteen months. In short, the project was a 100% success!”
Steve Irvine
Application Support Manager, DART
Background
DART, Delaware Transit Corporation’s multi-modal system, had its origins 150 years ago when on June 30, 1864, the Wilmington City Railroad Company initiated horse and mule-drawn 20-seat trolley service along several Wilmington streets.[1] Since then, DART has grown to now operate 54 bus routes, offering a statewide network of transportation options and providing over six million trips system wide in 2023.
In 2022, DART was looking to improve the customer experience for its transit community by providing a real-time, dynamic passenger information system across its network of fixed route buses. The state-of-the-art real-time transit messaging system they envisioned would be capable of providing accurate next stop, route, announcements, alerts and other information to their riders while on-board DARTs buses.
Challenges
DART wanted to keep its riders up to date but did not have an easy way to communicate real-time information. In the event of an emergency, such as impending bad weather or a need to communicate Silver and Amber alerts, DART had no easy way to reach their riders. In addition, they wanted to expand the channels to communicate service changes and disruptions in real-time to their riders. There was even a need to communicate future changes such as service enhancements and public hearing workshops.
Solution
As a result of the Infotainment project led by Vontas and in close partnership with Vianova Technologies, according to Steve Irvine, the Application Support Manager at DART, the agency was able to get “everything that they were looking for…” This includes the ability to share useful information to all riders, such as system-wide service updates, or to display specific information on one single vehicle, such as a specific stop closure or a detour. This information is especially useful to DART’s new riders.
With the Vontas and Vianova system, DART now has the capability to display any manner of agency-generated content, provide local and regional weather, traffic and news, and public service announcements (PSA). DART has recently implemented the use of the geofencing feature which can display specific content at specific route locations. This is currently being used to present welcome messages when vehicles are arriving at major transit centers within the route structure. DART intends to use this capability for targeted PSAs and advertising in the future, opening up the potential for non-fare revenue generation. The system also enables audio content to be played over the existing bus speakers for a full multi-media experience for their riders.
Results
This project installed infotainment systems on 237 DART buses with no disruption to DART’s service, and achieving substantial completion of installations, as planned, within thirteen months. This includes various vehicle types including Battery Electric Buses, Diesels and Hybrid Electrics. In short, the project completed within the original timeline and according to several of the DART Project Team “The project was a 100% success!”