GATEWAY to get new look next year
By From staff reports
Published in News on December 21, 2014 1:50 AM
By this time next year, GATEWAY transit system could look quite different -- and its route and bus quality could improve.
At a recent GATEWAY board meeting, director Fred Fontana revealed the rebranding committee, which is in charge of updating GATEWAY's image among the community, had selected a company for GATEWAY's rebranding.
QCA, a company out of Tampa, FL that also operates out of Charlotte, will be used to update GATEWAY's logo, route maps, website and implement QR Codes for real time route updates.
GATEWAY's board of directors authorized $23,000 to be allocated for the funding of the initial study to be done by QCA.
Fontana also said he found a way to buy GATEWAY three new buses for its urban route, instead of the planned two.
This is possible, Fontana said, due to GATEWAY having a grant funding the purchase of a 30 foot and 25 foot bus at the price of $476,000. But, Fontana discovered the transit system can purchase three, 27 foot buses for about $360,000.
GATEWAY's board of directors unanimously supported this move.
The only drawbacks to taking this route, Fontana said, is that each bus will hold two fewer passengers than a larger, 30 foot bus, and a 27-foot bus is rated to last seven to eight years as opposed to 12 years, which is how long a 30-foot bus would last.
Each 27-foot bus is also an improvement in durability and passenger capacity over a 25-foot bus, Fontana said.
The last major order of business addressed during Thursday morning's meeting was installing tablets on GATEWAY buses to track ridership and the location of drivers.
Fontana said GATEWAY had $32,000 left over after purchasing vans for its rural route, which will now be directed to paying for the installation of CTS tablets and software.
Fontana said that tablets should be fully implemented and on buses within 60 days.