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God I hope this doesn't send WMATA into another round of hide-and-seek. I too believe that contractual issues may have caused them to deep-six the public NextBus when it became widely known in recent days. It would be just like WMATA's lawyers to have failed to insist upon a beta-test clause. (Don't get me started on their Verizon wireless contract from the 1990s.)

If you are curious about what might be going on behind the scenes with "fixing" NextBus -- or rather, the Metrobus systems that interface with it -- I include the following information I dug up.

In presentations made to the WMATA board in March-April 2007, the staff explained how the NextBus interacts with back-office programs run by MetroBus.

See http://wmata.com/about_metro/board_of_directors/board_docs/030807_NextBuspresentation.pdf and http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/board_of_directors/board_docs/041207_MinutesMarch82007PDRE.pdf

According to these documents, "NextBus accepts an electronic raw location feed from WMATA’s existing Orbital OrbCAD Automatic Vehicle Location System and combines it with a data feed from the Trapeze Scheduling System." (Note that these reports claimed NextBus worked flawlessly at the time).

It appears the big problems started when they looked at expanding the service. (Allegedly, Metrobus will be the largest-ever roll-out for NextBus.) Back in September 2007, the Post reported "The main problem is outdated software that cannot communicate properly with newer software, [Metro chief Catoe] said. Metro plans to disconnect the system, make the upgrades and reconnect the system, he said."

Since that time, the WMATA website has pretty much gone dark on NextBus. I have found documents listing urgent, unfunded IT capital needs, which ask for a million bucks to "Remediate/Stabilize Major Operational Systems" because "Trapeze, Maximo, Orbcad not configured nor reengineered for many basic functions."

(By the way, according to the maker, Trapeze has a free plug-in to export schedule and location data to Google Transit, if the operator is using the latest versions of the software with current licenses. Wonder if WMATA just needs to pony up for software upgrades?)

At the June 26, 2008 WMATA board meeting, the IT remediation were fully funded for FY2009. (The same day as the DC OneCard was approved.) Deep in the attachments for the budget, it noted that the contracts to "enhance" Trapeze and OrbCAD were to be awarded no later than 12/31/08.

After that, the trail goes cold in my searches on the WMATA website -- other than lots of references to passengers desperate for NextBus to be restored. (The Riders' Advisory Council strongly requested restoration in July 2008.) For what it's worth, it looks like NextBus annunciators were written in the requirements of the Clear Channel deal on bus shelters, so WMATA at least APPEARS to have the institutional commitment to pursue getting NextBus fixed.

P.S. Fixing the OrbCAD and Trapeze should have benefits besides making NextBus work better. WMATA has been working on a project called Bus System Integration and the "Single Sign-On" feature. (See http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/board_of_directors/board_docs/062608_CSOS3OpsPerformance.pdf) Supposedly BSI will allow MetroBus to better monitor on-time performance (and other issues, like maintenance) in the back office.

by John on Mar 3, 2009 2:13 pm • link • report