INIT Innovations in Transportation Inc. has been awarded a contract by Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet). TriMet has chosen INIT as the prime contractor to provide MOBILE-ITCS, its advanced CAD/AVL system.

The system to be installed includes on-board computers, mobile data terminals, an automatic passenger counting system, and in cooperation with General Electric Transportation LLC, a digital mobile radio system to support their fixed route bus operations.

The INIT system will be installed on 660 of TriMet's fixed route vehicles, while another 350 paratransit and 117 light rail vehicles will be equipped with mobile radios. In addition, portable radios will be included on 144 non-revenue vehicles and a mobile dispatch system will be provided to 8 supervisor vehicles.

Due to the new "online detour" feature within MOBILE-ITCS, in the event of unplanned detours, TriMet drivers will receive instant route changes and navigational information on their TOUCHmon, the 8.4-inch, full-color mobile data terminal. Dispatchers will also stay up to date with ad hoc changes helping them manage work flow more efficiently, while passengers will receive up to the minute changes through the real-time passenger information media.

Also included in the new contract is INIT's Automatic Passenger Counting System,
MOBILE-APC. MOBILE-APC has already been installed on 49 of TriMet's light rail vehicles with successful results. MOBILE-APC will allow the agency to collect and store passenger data through the on-board computer, then send it via Wireless LAN to the Control Center where the data will be processed and analyzed with INIT's statistics software, MOBILEstatistics.

The contract between TriMet and INIT amounts to over $35 million. The project is expected to start in early 2010, with a 2.5 year timeline for initial project completion.