TO: AC Transit Board of Directors
FROM: Kathleen Kelly, Interim General Manager/Chief Executive Officer
SUBJECT: Service Disruptions Notifications in Real Time
BRIEFING ITEM
AGENDA PLANNING REQUEST: ?
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
Title
Consider receiving a report related to the communication of detours and other service disruptions in real time [Requested by Director Walsh - 6/26/24].
Staff Contact:
Claudia Burgos, Interim Executive Director of External Affairs, Marketing & Communications
Ahsan Baig, Chief Information Officer
Body
STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE:
Goal - Convenient and Reliable Service
Initiative - Service Quality
Accurate real-time transit information supports the goal of convenient and reliable service and generally increases transit ridership.
BUDGETARY/FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact associated with receiving this report.
Two additional full-time Social Media Coordinators would enhance detour notifications by providing coverage during off hours and would cost approximately $320,000 per year. Staff has not proposed adding any Coordinators, in light of the budget shortfall.
Additional technological improvements to the CAD/AVL system are currently being scoped by the Innovation & Technology Department and there would be costs associated with those improvements.
BACKGROUND/RATIONALE:
At AC Transit, information about bus movements is provided by a Computer Aided Dispatch/ Automatic Vehicle Locator (CAD/AVL) system furnished by vendor Clever Devices (Clever). Clever software and hardware are present on all buses and in the Operations Control Center (OCC). Staff use Clever hardware and software to communicate with bus operators and to update public-facing live information, including AC Transit's real-time information (available on web, via text message, and via the AC Transit Official App) and the industry-standard General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS), used by third-party apps such as Google Maps and Transit app. The District...
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