Laketran continues to work on technology upgrades aimed to help riders plan their trips and to improve the transit agency’s overall operation.

Several types of hardware upgrades have been implemented recently, including electronic fareboxes, a new radio communication system, GPS/automatic vehicle locators, mobile data terminals and a new phone system.

All of the technology improvement projects are capital expenses that are 80 percent federally funded and involve a 20 percent local match, according to Laketran officials.

Electronic fareboxes assist with cash collection and offer Smart Card technology that enables riders to load a card up to $200 and not have to worry about carrying cash. There also is a $5 add-on option at the point of purchase in case the card is lost to be able to issue a new card and restore the balance remaining on the old card.

Laketran General Manager Ray Jurkowski said the cards eliminate a need to carry cash for fares and have been a blessing to some customers who might have a physical or mental disability.

The cards also have increased in popularity with senior citizens, who might receive them as a gift from a caregiver, friend or relative.

“All they have to do is make an investment in a Smart Card,” Jurkowski said. “They can reload the Smart Card at the farebox and don’t even have to come in to Laketran.”

The transit agency’s new radio communication system allows Laketran to communicate directly with the Lake County Emergency Operations Center as well as one-on-one communication with individual municipalities’ fire and police departments.

The radio system allows Laketran to continue to assist Lake County as a first responder for evacuation, transportation, and helped assist when there was a request for a mobile warming center during an apartment fire Feb. 13 in Painesville.

“We’re really proud of this and for many years, Laketran has been one of the first responders to any emergency and always there when they needed us,” said Andy Altenweg, deputy general manager.

Altenweg said the new radio system also allows for communication with officials in Columbus, if needed.

GPS/Automatic Vehicle Locators were installed in the last six months on fixed route buses and had been in place on Dial-a-Ride buses since 2006, said Ben Capelle, operations manager. They allow dispatch to track bus locations and on-time arrival, as well as offer driving directions to Dial-a-Ride drivers.

Laketran’s call center can access the fixed route AVL through software to provide customers exact time detail on buses, which can be especially helpful in cold weather to reduce wait times at bus stops, Capelle said.

“It’s not only the in-county buses, but the ones that go downtown into Cleveland,” Jurkowski said.

Marketing and Public Relations Director Julia Schick said consumers can call customer service to find out where the buses are and the next step is to create and launch an Internet-based application that should be active by the end of the year.

Laketran was able to replace the agency’s old phone system that had been in place since 1986.

“We purchased a new system from the county and it’s given us a lot more power and has screens that shows how many customers are in the queue and how long they have been waiting,” Capelle said. “We can use it to adjust the breaks of the customer service reps.”

A software upgrade uses a program called Trapeze Streets that helps streamline everything from a dispatcher’s perspective, Capelle said.

“The computer looks at all the reservations and matches up people’s origins up with their destinations and gives them a bus with that assignment,” Jurkowski said.

With infrastructure and software in place, Laketran looks to build more online and mobile customer tools that will help new and regular customers manager their transportation needs.

Future upgrades

Several projects are in the works with completion targeted for 2015.

For local bus routes and Park-n-Ride customers, new tools would include an online ride guide; next bus arrival text alerts; and outdoor LED signs at the Julie A. Cunningham Painesville Transfer Center, Great Lakes Mall and Lakeland Community College that would be equipped with electronic signage with real-time bus arrival/departure information.

Dial-a-Ride tools soon should include Interactive Voice Response to offer 24/7 access to trip confirmation and cancellation. Customers would be given a customer ID and would be able to call Laketran, enter the ID, and listen to a log of all reservations made and confirm or cancel them automatically.

Automated call confirmations are planned for Dial-a-Ride during which Laketran’s call center would automatically call a rider 24 hours in advance of a scheduled trip and again 15 minutes before the bus is estimated to arrive. Customers also would be able to cancel trips at the time of automated phone call.

Online reservations to request, cancel or confirm Dial-a-Ride reservations are also planned for social service agencies and individual customers.

This online reservation system would assist caregivers who book trips for seniors and people with disabilities, and agencies that make multiple reservations daily for clients.