Free Wi-Fi on SMART buses?! New Funding to Provide This and Other Improvements

July 25, 2019 — On July 18, 2019, the Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC) awarded Wilsonville’s South Metro Area Regional Transit agency (SMART) $727,000 in a competitive grant program from the Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund (STIF).

SMART plans to use the funds to introduce two new initiatives: the deployment of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) features for the SMART system and an Express Medical Shuttle that provides fixed route service between the Wilsonville Community Center and Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center in Tualatin.

“The Wilsonville City Council is proud of the high-quality work by SMART to earn these awards,” Wilsonville Mayor Tim Knapp said. “These new grant-funded transit programs answer the community need for improved medical shuttle service and they increase SMART’s capacity to better cater to passengers’ needs.”

SMART’s two successful grant applications won seven percent of the $10.6 million in STIF Discretionary Fund awards made available in the competitive state-wide process during the 2019-21 cycle. Established by the Oregon state legislature through House Bill 2017, “Keep Oregon Moving” legislation, the new STIF program is funded by a statewide employee-paid payroll tax designed to improve public-transit.

“Our staff deserves credit for always thinking two or three steps ahead,” said Transit Director Dwight Brashear. “Their hard work to survey SMART passengers, analyze trends and identify improvement opportunities is allowing us to develop grant proposals that merit funding.”

The OTC awarded more than $19 million in 2019-21 STIF Discretionary Program and Statewide Transit Network Program funding after a competitive process to distribute nearly $10.6 million in STIF Discretionary, $7.3 million in STIF Intercommunity Discretionary and $1.3 million in Federal Transit Administration Intercity funds.

SMART’s New Intelligent Transportation System

Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) improvements improve the ability of all people to travel by public transportation quickly, reliably and comfortably to their desired destination.

With a $424,000 STIF award, SMART plans to expand and improve ITS infrastructure system-wide, including the addition of free WiFi service on all SMART buses, which could be in place as early as 2020.

Other ITS innovations funded by the grant include:

• Tracking and Live Dispatch system that provides on-time performance and allows dispatchers to respond quickly and solve problems.
• Automatic Passenger Counting that tracks where and when people are riding, providing critical information that facilitates more efficient delivery of transit-service improvements.
• Real-Time Passenger Information system that pushes alerts and other information to SMART’s website, mobile application [WE1] and digital signage for rider updates.
• Improved Analytics that enable SMART to generate reports about on-time performance, vehicle health, usage and other information that can be used to improve future service.

SMART’s New Express Medical Shuttle

SMART plans to start a new express medical shuttle service between the Wilsonville Community Center and Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center in Tualatin, funded by a $303,000 STIF grant award.

SMART plans to purchase one Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) short-bus and begin operating the free shuttle service in 2020. Existing service requires Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) paratransit-eligible passengers to transfer from SMART to TriMet LIFT at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility. The new SMART Express Medical Shuttle reduces or eliminates transfers with a direct fixed route that provides passengers with a faster trip and increased scheduled reliability. 

Purchase of a CNG bus furthers SMART’s goal to use 100% alternative energy by 2028 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

SMART has provided transportation services to Wilsonville since 1989. In 2018, the Wilsonville City Council adopted SMART’s Programs Enhancement Strategy as an amendment to the Transit Master Plan (TMP) to prioritize service improvements to be considered with HB2017 funding. For more information, visit ridesmart.com.

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