Delaware bus stops to get electronic signs showing arrival times

In the coming months, Delaware bus riders at 10 stops throughout the state will be able to view newly installed electronic signs that show real-time locations of area buses, according to a recent contract awarded by the statewide transit agency, DART.

The signs build upon a DART effort from 2016 when it launched a bus location mobile app, which uses an internal GPS feed to broadcast the real-time locations of its fleet of buses.

The electronic signs will use the same GPS data as the app.

Giving riders real-time information removes a sometimes frustrating uncertainty around waiting for transit, DART CEO John Sisson told The News Journal in 2016.

"The feed includes all the necessary traveler information," a DART request for proposals document stated. "A waiting transit customer may rely on the transmission to determine or confirm bus stop name ... route number and name, scheduled arrival verses real-time arrival and the bus’s destination sign scrolls."

In April, DART awarded the contract to install and supply the 10 signs to Los Angeles-based Syncromatics Corporation after the company submitted a bid of $132,000.

Virginia-based Redmon Group Inc. also bid on the work.

"That this was an RFP and price wasn’t the only determining factor," Sisson said. "We did negotiate prices once we selected the most responsible proposer."

In 2016, Syncromatics won a $4 million contract with Los Angeles Metro to supply and install real-time electronic signs.

Installation of the LED and LCD signs is beginning this month at transit hubs in Lewes and Rehoboth, Sisson said, corresponding with the start of the summer tourism season. 

The LED signs will be similar to electronic signs on the front of buses, but will also provide arrival times, Sisson said. The LCD signs will look like a TV screen, and show more detailed information than the LEDs, including detours, service interruptions and, possibly, ads.  

"The LED signs are ready to go, but we still need to do some configuration with the LCD signs," Sisson said. "The LCD signs may have static information at first while we work on getting the real time data feed configured."  

The signs each will have a button to activate a voice announcement for visually-impaired people, Sisson said. They will not be interactive.

Following an initial installation at the beaches, electronic signs will go up at park and rides and other principal stops in Dover; Smyrna; Christiana Mall; Newark; Prices Corner; the intersection of Del. 896 and Del. 4; People’s Plaza; and even Rodney Square, despite last year DART removing the majority of buses from the central Wilmington square. 

The move came after businesses in the area lobbied the governor heavily, arguing transit depressed the surrounding commercial real-estate market.

Contract documents for the electronic signs specified that the system should be "expandable to include the future development of touch screen kiosks, units in which to purchase transit fares, and similar enhancements."

They also indicate that signs may be installed at additional locations in the future.

A likely candidate for expansion is the still-to-be-built Wilmington transit center, that will sit one block from the city's train station. It will house seven indoor bus stops on its ground floor with parking above.

Colonial Parking and developer EDiS in a partnership won a state contract to build and operate the new transit center. The multi-story garage for buses, rental cars and public parking likely will open in 2019, Colonial Parking President Jed Hatfield told The News Journal last year.

Theirs was the only bid submitted.

Sisson on Friday said the contractors still are working on a final design for the facility and could break ground by the end of the year.

Contact Karl Baker at kbaker@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2329. Follow him on Twitter @kbaker6.