Allowing GPS tracking devices for city vehicles is first step toward possible change for city bus routes – Muddy River News

QUINCY – The Quincy City Council has approved the city entering into a three-year, $82,190 contract with MasTrack of Danbury, Connecticut, for GPS tracking devices in city vehicles.

Marty Stegeman, the city's transportation director, said after Monday night's meeting that he expects to present a proposal to city councilors on Jan. 8 to make a “significant change” to bus routes for the city. This proposal would also include implementing an app that users could download to their phones to track when city buses arrive at specific locations.

The City of Quincy's current GPS location services contract with Atlanta-based Nextraq, LLC expires February 25. If city councilors approve the bus route changes, which Stegeman said are not yet finalized, he said bus drivers could begin using the new GPS feature “within 30 to 60 days” of starting their contract with MasTrack.

The MasTrack contract covers municipal vehicles used at Quincy Regional Airport, as well as central services, utilities, planning and development, engineering and transit. Stegeman says about 25 city buses will use GPS tracking.

“The (Nextraq) system is not capable of locating a bus for the general public,” Stegeman said after the meeting. “I can look at the buses and my staff can look at the buses.”

The city received 18 GPS tracking proposals and heard presentations from four. MasTrack's proposal was the third most expensive of the final four, but the GPS committee of Stegeman, Megan Meyer, John Schafer, Jeffrey Conte and Mary-Ann Ervin felt it best suited the city's needs.

“When people are standing at a bus stop, they can press a button (on their phone) and say, 'My bus is three minutes away,' and they can physically see it,” Stegeman told councilors.

Stegeman said he knows a person from Galesburg who uses a similar GPS tracking system. When he saw the system on a cell phone and “it worked the way it was supposed to work.”

“We receive calls every day from passengers on our fixed route network asking where the buses are,” Stegeman said. “At this point we need to go to Nextraq, locate the bus and then estimate how long it will take for that bus to get there.”

The city also has the option to extend the MasTrack contract for an additional three one-year periods.