Monterey-Salinas Transit Introduces Wi-Fi on Express Buses

MST serves a 280 square-mile area of Monterey County and Southern Santa Cruz County, California. More than 5 million passengers ride Monterey-Salinas Transit each year. MST owns and operates 78 buses, 15 minibuses, and six trolleys over a total of 36 routes.

Prior to rolling-out the new service, MST conducted a passenger survey and found that more than 50 percent of riders would use a Wi-Fi connection, if offered. As of July 18, business travelers, college students, and other passengers onboard MST Lines 23 (Salinas to King City), 53 (Monterey Peninsula-South County Express), and 55 (Monterey-San Jose Express) now surf the Internet to download e-mail, work, shop, and read the latest news from their seat on the bus.

"Wi-Fi amenities on buses and trains are becoming more common and are frequently cited as inducements for using public transit," said MST's director of administration Hunter Harvath. "Providing wireless Internet access onboard our express buses helps MST commuters make better use of their time aboard our longer distance routes. We expect ridership and fare revenue to increase as we gain new customers, which in turn will help reduce congestion on our roadways as drivers switch to public transit."

In considering a bus Internet solution for its express routes, MST evaluated different products on the market and determined that Parvus' RiderNet³ product would best fit their needs.

"Parvus had a rugged design specifically made for public transit buses, which set itself apart from the competition," Harvath said. "The new RiderNet³ product also gave us the possibility of a content filter and was competitively priced, which allowed us to select Parvus over other options."

RiderNet³ is Parvus' third-generation transit Wi-Fi solution for implementing high-speed Internet access onboard public bus and private coach. Parvus delivers a turn-key solution that bundles all needed equipment (router, modem, antennas, cabling) and managed services, including cellular airtime, technical support, remote system monitoring, 1-800 user phone support service, usage reporting and content filtering. Users can easily check email, visit websites, and use VPN connections at broadband speeds from any Wi-Fi-enabled laptop or PDA.

Parvus is part of the Eurotech Group, which has a long history in the traffic and public transportation field, providing vehicle communication, location tracking, and video surveillance systems, as well as mobile Internet access points and passenger counting devices. Parvus products can be found at a variety of public transit authorities nationwide, including at the New York Metropolitan Transportation Agency, New Jersey Transit Authority, Foothill Transit, among others.