TransLoc’s Transit Visualization System (TVS) is changing the way people use mass transit by making the real time location of public transit vehicles available to riders when they need it and where they need it.

TransLoc’s TVS system displays moving vehicles in real time on a detailed map that includes easily recognizable buildings and landmarks. A rider can monitor the progress of the bus he wants to take and plan to arrive at the bus stop within seconds of the bus.

“You can be sipping a latte, staying warm indoors while you watch your bus moving along the route,” said Johsh Whiton, CEO of TransLoc. “Then walk out to the bus stop when the bus is pulling up.”

The TVS system makes this possible by transmitting the vehicle location in real time. “Our system is the most real real-time system out there,” said Whiton. “We try very hard to make sure that what people see on their screens reflects reality.”

The real-time feature of TransLoc’s technology is what makes the difference in changing attitudes. “If you just see a blinking dot as a bus moves from stop to stop, you can’t get a real sense of how quickly a vehicle is approaching,” said Whiton. “A bus can really move along in 30 seconds, and 30 seconds is enough to miss your bus. With TVS, riders walk out their front door when the bus is coming down the street. When they get to the bus stop, the bus pulls up.”

In fact, the TVS screen cautions riders that the vehicle may be five seconds ahead of its animated icon!

“TVS changes the perception of mass transit by taking away the unknown factor,” said Whiton. “Our technology gives riders a sense that the public transit system is really there to serve them. They can see where the vehicle is and that it is going to come to their location and take them exactly where they want to go. And they can get all of that information instantly from our system.”

TransLoc’s first commercial installation of TVS was at NC State University on the Wolfline buses used to connect the sprawling campus. The customer feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and the responses read like fan mail:

• “This system is a great idea! I never have to worry about whether or not I just missed the bus and will be waiting for half an hour until the next one.”
• “I can watch the buses run behind my building on screen and then they appear out front!”
• “I can wait in my living room instead of the bus stop.”
• “I have to drive to a park & ride and it helps me figure out when to leave the house without wasting time.”

TransLoc uses a proprietary transponder on each vehicle that broadcasts its location. The TVS system translates the location information and displays it on a map on the TransLoc website that is available to anyone interested in catching a bus.

“Our system makes the information widely available,” said Whiton. “Hundreds of users access it simultaneously.

“It changes user’s lives,” he said. “They are using it every single day to save time catching the bus. It becomes part of their daily commute and it changes the way they ride the bus. It makes the public transit system more like private transit. The riders feel like the public transit system is really at their disposal.”

And that is catching the attention of mass transit authorities at municipalities and universities across the country.

“Public transit systems are trying to increase ridership, trying to get more regular riders on the buses,” Whiton said. “Not just people who have to ride the bus, but people who will choose to take the bus instead of their car. They realize that they will have to improve the perception of mass transit before people will forego taking their car.

“That’s where our technology helps because it greatly improves the perception of public transit. It reduces your wait time. It makes the bus real. You can see it coming to you and going to the location where you want to go. It gives you the confidence to leave your car at home.”

Public transit systems are actively looking for technology that will solve these problems. “It’s pretty much a natural fit when we demonstrate the system for transit authorities,” Whiton said. “Everybody’s got a tight budget, but we have a high price-performance ratio. And when the performance is there, that makes the numbers work.”

“The TVS system improves customer satisfaction and can boost ridership,” said Dominique Bischof, a TransLoc co-founder. “But transit systems realize a number of indirect cost savings as well. TVS has a dramatic impact on operations and lets the authority refine fleet operations. Dispatchers can see bottlenecks earlier and space vehicles. They don’t have to dispatch personnel to observe vehicles on routes and they can solve problems in real time instead of reviewing reports a week later. They see a system-wide reduction in overhead.”

The company is also in discussions with a number of first responder agencies – fire, public safety, police and EMT organizations. “They often call us when they hear about the technology because they can immediately see the application and the potential impact on their operations,” said Whiton.

TransLoc was launched in the Technology Incubator at NC State, which was an early advantage to the company. “Being in the incubator was great initially because we were immersed in our target market,” Whiton said. “We could see the busses running by outside our window and we could just step outside and ride them, observe the users, talk to riders.”

They quickly had to establish satellite offices as they brought on more employees, and they found a strong talent pool in the area. “We had a solid idea of the technology we wanted to develop and we were able to find capable people here to help us bring it to fruition,” Whiton said.

“We plan to be in North Carolina for the foreseeable future,” he said. “You never know what will happen, but we developed the technology in North Carolina and we would like to see it serve the region.”