Greater Portland Metro selects Optibus and Equans for new intelligent transportation system (ITS)

Optibus, in collaboration with Equans, has been selected by the Greater Portland Transit District (GPTD), in Portland, Maine, for the deployment of a new intelligent transportation system (ITS) spanning scheduling and timekeeping. This partnership will provide a major upgrade for Greater Portland Metro, which is the largest public transit system in Maine. 

Greater Portland Metro operates fixed route bus service in the Greater Portland Region of Southern Maine. Metro’s operation comprises 9 local routes and 1 express route, 44 buses and approximately 70 bus operators.
The new ITS platform will consist of Equans’ NAVINEO computer aided dispatch and automatic vehicle location (CAD/AVL) system and the Optibus Planning, Scheduling, Rostering, and Operations software, creating a fully unified platform using industry standard integrations and minimizing the need for manual entry of data. 


A modern, easy to use solution

The Equans’ CAD/AVL system will provide a modern, easy to use dispatching solution. The system will allow bus tracking but also proactive service adjustment such as real-time detour management, adding or canceling trips, or communicating turn by turn to bus operators. The new Automatic Passenger Counters (APC) will support Greater Portland Transit District with detailed ridership analysis and facilitate National Transit Database (NTD) reporting process with one click NTD S-10 report. For instance, the data will report the number of boardings per stop and passenger load.  

Lastly, the platform will also allow Greater Portland Transit District to easily configure Automatic Voice Announcements (AVA). They will be able to select the voice, the information to announce, when and where to announce it, including real-time detour and connections. 

"Equans is proud to partner with Greater Portland Metro and continue to expand in New England, helping public transit agencies provide reliable service to their communities. The new technology provided for GPTD will provide their staff with the latest Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) technologies and customers with highly accurate real-time information. We are delighted to deploy innovative solutions and help make smart and sustainable mobility a reality » declares Kilian Ollivier, Director of Business Development at Equans.

In Optibus' Planning product, agencies and cities can create optimal timetables that meet their business goals, as well as optimizing for on-time performance (OTP) and service level needs.

Four product modules from Optibus, a unified, cloud-native software platform, will be used as GPTD’s new scheduling and timekeeping system: Optibus Planning, Scheduling, Rostering, and Operations. Using optimization algorithms and machine learning tools, Optibus discovers efficiencies that improve service quality while reducing costs and emissions. The platform also streamlines work processes, unlocking the speed and agility needed to adjust services in minutes, not hours or days.

“We are excited to provide Portland with powerful new optimization tools that will transform Greater Portland’s public transportation network. The collaboration between Optibus, Equans, and Greater Portland Metro means that more sustainable, efficient, and cost-effective services are a click away,” says Optibus CEO and co-founder Amos Haggiag.

"Greater Portland Metro is excited to partner with Equans and Optibus as our ITS CAD/AVL, scheduling, and timekeeping partners", concludes Glenn Fenton, Executive Director at Greater Portland Transit District. "The state-of-the-art equipment and software provided through this award will help Metro bring the next generation of transit technology to the Greater Portland region, allowing Metro to inform passengers about detours, schedule changes, and alerts more quickly and easily. All aspects of our agency stand to benefit from these technology upgrades, and we are eager to get started."


Further Reading:

• Volvo Buses & Optibus Announce Strategic Partnership
• Webinar: Exploring Optibus’ AI Predictive Runtimes Technology
• Case study: Using AI to create better bus driver schedules, faster