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Denver RTD opts for wireless AVL and payments

Canadian company Sierra Wireless has deployed its InMotion Solutions oMG Mobile Gateway for Denver’s Regional Transportation District (RTD) to support mobile broadband access for automatic vehicle location (AVL) and smart card fare payments aboard more than 1,100 buses in its fixed route fleet. One of the top 20 public transit agencies in the US, the RTD provides services to residents across an eight county metro area, from the bus and light rail services to the free MallRide and specialty services.
October 15, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Canadian company 7884 Sierra Wireless has deployed its InMotion Solutions oMG Mobile Gateway for Denver’s Regional Transportation District (RTD) to support mobile broadband access for automatic vehicle location (AVL) and smart card fare payments aboard more than 1,100 buses in its fixed route fleet.

One of the top 20 public transit agencies in the US, the RTD provides services to residents across an eight county metro area, from the bus and light rail services to the free MallRide and specialty services.

The InMotion Solutions oMG Mobile Gateway connects mobile equipment for RTD’s smart card fare system and new bus AVL system over both a Sprint cellular broadband network and new 802.11n garage-area wi-fi networks. It supports real time communications while buses are on the road and bulk data transfer automatically upon return to the garage. The management system enables managers to see how much data is being transmitted, which network is being used, and allows IT teams to update configurations remotely.

“We wanted a carrier-agnostic communications platform that would allow us to grow and upgrade as wireless technology changed,” said Tom Hughes, RTD’s manager, Intelligent Transportation Systems.

“RTD coordinated planned investments in its new fare system and bus AVL solution to deploy a very flexible, high-performance wireless communications solution that can ultimately serve all systems aboard its fleet,” said Scott Davis, vice president of Worldwide Sales, Enterprise Solutions for Sierra Wireless. “RTD now has the mobile communications technology, management systems and the organisational expertise to efficiently deliver reliable communications to new onboard systems using the latest broadband wireless technologies.”

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