METRO LINK Currently, MetroLINK’s fl eet is 85 percent CNG. Next for MetroLINK is all-electric. Proterra brought in one of its buses and tested it out in the community. MetroLINK got a grant through the state of Illinois, some of the clean energy money. Two all-electric buses will be coming in August. Th e Metro Operations & Maintenance Center has a photovoltaic roof, so Nelson said they’re trying to build a cycle for those buses to charge them with sunlight. While January and February will be plugging into the wall more than anything, they anticipate charging during the day for at least three-quarters of the year with the 325 kW system they have. Technology Choices At MetroLINK they know if it’s not in their rider’s palm, it’s not an option. Th ey’re working with TransLoc on rolling out an app that will have the bus “in the palms of people’s hands.” Th ey’ve already started rolling out real-time information signs on shelters and they’re testing a cellular connection with AT&T so those signs will be working off the AT&T connection and have Wi-Fi capability, as well. “Technology’s really going to be, I think, the element that’s going to change and make transit viable in a community,” Nelson stated. When talking about technology and apps, Nelson mentioned they were considering their fareboxes about six years ago. “If you start thinking about what’s evolved in six years, it’s been pretty dramatic,” he said. “If we had replaced our fareboxes six years ago, we would be so antiquated. “We know we we’ll always have to have that stainless steel box to catch cash, but what is going to be that mean of paying your way in life? … at what point do you say yes, we’ve found a comfort level … something that will be sustainable for years.” With such a signifi cant investment, he said they want to ensure they’re not going to be antiquated before they “plug it in.” Th ey have been dipping their feet in the mobile payment arena with their ferry boats. Th e ferry boats have about 50 percent ridership that is one-time riders and electronic transactions really aren’t an option. Where the docks are, there aren’t any registers and they looked at a cellular connection to do credit card transactions, but that also wasn’t an option. Nelson said they worked with Americaneagle.com out of Chicago to develop a mobile payment app, the Channel Cat app. Riders can download the app, populate it with their credit card information and buy the ticket on the spot. It provides a QR code and MetroLINK has readers on the boats. Planning with Purpose Th e building they were in up until 2014 was built too small from the beginning. As Nelson explained, it was undersized before they even moved in. Th ey had built it around the time ADA changes came and the buses went from 96 to 102 inches wide and while that doesn’t sound like much, with beams that can’t be moved, walkways became too narrow, the bus wash became too small, turning radiuses changed; the dynamics of the building were no longer functional. Th e preliminary study looked at what it would take to make the building work and it came back with: Not much. For the strategic plan they focus on what they would want in a perfect world and how would they get there? “You have to have the ability to look forward,” Nelson said. “And you can’t wait until funding happens.” Th e Metro Operations & Maintenance Center was a 15-year endeavor from start to fi nish. Th ey 14 | Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | MARCH 2017 WHILE MOST people hide cables in the ceiling, you can see “The Technology Highway” running throughout the Metro Operations & Maintenance Center. They’re not shy that they have technology and they want to make sure it’s easily accessible. looked at if they were going to build a new facility, what would the ideal facility look like? And they designed from there, understanding the square foot needs and funding needs. “We did the preliminary search … we got a lot of the procedural stuff out of the way,” explained Nelson. “A lot of people were asking, ‘Why are you doing an environmental for your new building if you don’t have any funding for it?’ “In today’s world, you never know when that bucket of money is going to show up,” he said. “You can start knocking down some of those things that sometimes eliminate projects from consideration. “We had everything knocked out and ready to go and then lo and behold, the state of Illinois has a capital bill. Well we just happen to have something that’s shovel ready. “Is it guessing? No, not really.” He added, “If you’ve been in it long enough you know there’s a
MassTransit_March_2017
To see the actual publication please follow the link above