FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Antelope Valley Transit Authority

Contact: Pam Holland, Public Information Officer

661-729-2222

 

May 24, 2005

 

AVTA installing high-tech system to better serve passengers

 

LANCASTER - The Antelope Valley Transportation Authority (AVTA) has entered into an agreement with the Trapeze Group, Inc., for the provision of what it believes is the world’s most advanced “intelligent transit system” or ITS.  

 

“We are excited about being able to use this advanced transit technology to better serve the public,” explains Randy Floyd, Executive Director of AVTA.   “We selected the Trapeze ITS system because it’s the most advanced of its kind.  The system includes the latest technology used in aircraft and by our military to oversee their operations. The new AVTA system is equivalent to an air traffic control system, avionics system, and airline reservation system, for our local transportation fleet.  It will use global positioning satellites to locate and serve all of our vehicles.”

 

“AVTA, without exception, will have the most advanced transit management system in the world when this project is completed,” says Gregory Tomsic, General Manager and Vice President of the Trapeze ITS business unit supplying the system.

 

To assist AVTA in selecting the best ITS system, RNR Consulting was brought in to help with the evaluation of proposals. RNR Consulting evaluated technology from all over the world before recommending the Trapeze ITS system.  As an added bonus, the team of Trapeze technicians who will be installing the system have over 80 years experience doing this. Several of them have worked in the aerospace and defense industries and know the Lancaster and Palmdale area.

 

The new ITS system will provide instant data communications to and from headquarters and each vehicle, much like e-mail.  It will allow AVTA to know where all vehicles are at all times, and will monitor vehicle health for maintenance.  Automated passenger counting, bi-lingual annunciation of next stop information and many other features are included. 

 

In the future, passengers will be able to access AVTA’s website for up-to-the-moment vehicle locations and arrival/departure information for any bus stop.

 

Installation of the new ITS system will begin the first week of June. Completion of the project, which will involve a fleet of more than 80 vehicles, is expected to take from 10 months to a year. AVTA anticipates having its first ITS bus on the road by mid-July.

 

 

About the Antelope Valley Transportation Authority

The Antelope Valley Transit Authority was created in 1992 under a Joint Powers Agreement between the Cities of Lancaster, Palmdale, and the County of Los Angeles. AVTA provides fixed route and para transit services in the Antelope Valley area and commuter services into downtown Los Angeles and West San Fernando Valley.

 

About RNR Consulting

RNR Consulting, (est. 2001) is an organization that grew out of the Weatherhead Consulting Group at Case Western Reserve University; RNR Consulting is primarily a “think tank” organization that includes a select group of cross-sectional and deep-functional skilled consultants. The consultants have each had at least 5-7 years of industry experience in various areas including information technology, strategic plan development and implementation, organizational assessment, business process reengineering, forecasting, human resources assessment and business development and market research. In the last four years RNR Consulting has successfully served over 30 clients all over the US. The company is headquartered in Cleveland Ohio and has recently started an office in Lancaster to bring its expertise to the Antelope Valley and Southern California Region.

 

About Trapeze Group, Inc.

Established in 1990, Trapeze delivers proven scalable, innovative technology systems, solutions and services for transit authorities, medical transport, ridesharing and school transportation. A growing number of organizations throughout North America, Europe, Australia and the United Kingdom use the company's integrated systems and products to increase efficiency, improve service, and control costs. Trapeze has offices in Cedar Rapids, IA, Scottsdale, AZ, Boston, MA, Pittsburgh, PA, Cleveland, OH, Virginia Beach, VA, and Mississauga, ON as well as in Denmark, Germany, Spain, Australia and the United Kingdom. The Trapeze ITS Division in Iowa provides complete, city-wide public transportation systems as a prime contractor and products supplier with expertise in GPS, mobile dispatching and “real-time” control of communications.

 

For further information contact:

 

Antelope Valley Transit Authority

Randy Floyd

Executive Director

rfloyd@avta.com

(661) 729-2208

 

RNR Consulting

Ritesh Gupta

Senior Manager

rgupta@rnrconsulting.com

(661) 942-1180

 

Trapeze Group, Inc.

Gregory W. Tomsic

General Manager and Vice President

gregt@trapezegroup.com

(319) 398-4103

 

 

-30-