Pasadena DOT demos new real-time bus arrival devices

Upgraded schedule devices at Pasadena bus stops are set for installation in the coming months at five of the city’s busiest locations, officials announced Thursday.

The Pasadena Department of Transportation is doing a demonstration exercise of five new solar powered devices at local bus stops that give real-time bus arrival information “at the touch of a button,” according to the city’s announcement. The new devices have text-to-speech capability that assists customers with visual impairments.

Currently there are solar-powered, real-time arrival devices without text-to-speech at 115 of Pasadena’s nearly 400 bus stops, according to the city.

The locations identified for the five demo devices, manufactured by Papercast, are among the most heavily used bus stops in the city. The permanent locations are:

1. Northbound Lake Avenue and Villa Street;
2. Northbound Raymond Avenue and Holly Street;
3. Southbound Fair Oaks Boulevard and Woodbury Roa;
4. Northbound Lake Avenue. and Colorado Boulevard; and
5. Eastbound Foothill Boulevard and Sierra Madre Villa Avenue

The demo project is funded by Caltrans’ Low Carbon Transit Operations Program, officials said.

As part of this project, Pasadena DOT will collect data on how the new devices serve the needs of transit customers, who will be able to give feedback via a survey at Bit.ly/PapercastSurvey. A QR code and the link will also be on every Papercast unit.

“The survey feedback will assist in determining the effectiveness of these new devices, as well as informing the potential installation of future devices in the City,” according to the announcement.

The demo devices are part of the city’s $889,503 contract with Connexionz Ltd., which includes the provision of real-time bus arrival information displays.