JEFFTRAN to get technology upgrades

JEFFTRAN is getting some new technology, and officials hope it will help boost ridership.

This week, the Jefferson City Council approved a more than $318,000 contract for upgrades that will include transit system vehicle locators so that riders can track the buses in near-real time.

Eighty percent of the contract will be funded through a MoDOT grant. The city will pay about $64,000 from the half-cent sales tax funds.

JEFFTRAN gave nearly 300,000 rides last year, which was a drop of about 14,000 in the number of rides from 2015.

Jefferson City Transit Director Mark Mehmert said he hopes the newly approved technology will get people to use JEFFTRAN more often.

“We’re hoping that as more folks get exposed to the automatic vehicle location system, that more folks will use the transit system,” Mehmert said. “And as more folks use the transit system, that brings in more revenue and ends up helping us in terms of the amount of money that the city has to put toward the system.”

The technology will also help riders plan their trips on a computer, tablet or mobile app with Google Maps.

“They’ll be able to say, I want to go to X location and it’ll give them live directions on how long they’ll be on the bus and what locations/buses they need to switch to or transfer to,” Mehmert said.

The upgrades will also include passenger counters and voice indicators for riders who are visually impaired.

This comes as JEFFTRAN is in the middle of a system-wide assessment to see how it can become more efficient and attract more riders.

The assessment is far from finished, but Mehmert said the city has already received lots of good feedback on desired improvements.

“Folks would like to see better frequency,” Mehmert said. “Right now we run on 40-minute headings, that means it takes a bus a full 40 minutes to get around. They’d like to see that shortened in some way, shape or form. … Some folks would like to see us go later in the evening and also a weekend service.”