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Transportation
Valley Metro: Driving
Communications
The Greater Roanoke Transit Company, known
locally as Valley Metro, is a private, non-profit public service
organization wholly owned by the City of Roanoke, Virginia. Operations
began in 1975, and today Valley Metro provides approximately 2,100,000
passenger trips annually to the residents of the Roanoke Valley on their
fixed route and commuter bus services.
The
company is headquartered in the Roy Z. Meador Operations, Maintenance
and Administrative Facility, which houses the management offices, as
well as the Transportation, Administrative and Maintenance departments.
The 70,000 square foot two-level facility also features a shop and
garage area with automatic bus wash and indoor parking for the fleet of
42 buses.
The
Administrative, Transportation, and Maintenance offices are located on
the second level of the facility, as are the Dispatch Center, conference
rooms and employee lounge. The lounge is the nexus of the organization
where employees and drivers gather throughout the day to collect their
assignments, catch up on what’s happening at Valley Metro and relax.
Chip
Holdren, Assistant
General Manager, explains, “We had old dry erase boards on the walls of
the employee lounge, but they were hard to maintain and often ignored.
We approached a local AV dealer, Lee Hartman & Sons, for
recommendations.” The solution presented was the AxisTV digital signage
system.
“AxisTV
met all of our needs so we didn’t have to shop around,” comments Holdren.
Valley
Metro implemented the system last October.
They are
running AxisTV Standard Edition with a content server and channel player
feeding a 50-inch plasma display in the employee lounge.
“The
digital signage really grabs people’s attention. It used to be that
important messages were overlooked on the boards, but now the color,
motion and activity pull eyes to the screen. It’s the first thing people
look at when they walk in the door,” says Holdren.
The
company is running a three pane layout that posts bulletins in two
windows, while the third uses the Video Window Option to broadcast
programs like CNN Headline News and the Weather Channel. A bottom ticker
publishes local weather conditions and posts the daily preventable
accident record (number of days without accidents).
Holdren
and several designated Transportation Supervisors create bulletins
within AxisTV using both the ready-made templates and the Free Form tool
to post text and import graphics. The team publishes communications
including Human Resources announcements, employee notices, safety
messages, driving alerts and detours, as well as local event and concert
notices.
“We’ve
gotten a lot of positive feedback from the drivers. They like the more
technologically advanced approach,” comments Holdren.
Valley
Metro also purchased a Software Maintenance and Support Agreement for
their AxisTV system, providing expedited service support and free
software upgrades. “So far, we’ve had no problems with the system. We
needed a little help to get everything up and Client Services helped us
with that. Things have run smoothly since the system came on line.
Still, it’s good to have the SMA to rely on.”
Future
plans for the company’s digital signage strategy include computer
upgrades to pull AxisTV onto their network and developing more creation
options through added software. Also, Campbell Court Transportation
Center, the main passenger terminal, is being remodeled in the next
twelve months and Valley Metro is enthusiastic about implementing AxisTV
in the passenger areas.
“We want
to show passenger announcements, safety information, weather updates,
bus schedules and alerts, as well as TV programs,” continues Holdren.
“It will be a great way to deliver information and entertainment to
enhance the passenger experience.”
Holdren is pleased with
both employees’ adoption of the technology and the system’s performance.
He expands, “AxisTV is a huge improvement. The technology really grabs
attention and we know people are getting the information.”
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