Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Beach rolls out new trolley system for Oceanfront

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2003 10:24:03 -0400

Beach rolls out new trolley system for Oceanfront
By TAMARA EL-KHOURY, The Virginian-Pilot

Last updated: 9:24 PM

VIRGINIA BEACH -- City Council member Richard A. Maddox waited only seconds to
ride a VB Wave.Considering he was on his way to the inauguration ceremony for the revamped
trolley system, that's a good thing. With ties and skirts flapping in strong gusts of wind, city leaders and Hampton
Roads Transit officials unveiled the new Oceanfront trolley system outside the Old
Coast Guard Station on Atlantic Avenue and 24th Street Friday. Using a new monitoring system, the trolleys should pass stops within minutes of
each other.

If the new system works, people won't have extended delays. Maddox -- an
Oceanfront business owner and HRT commissioner -- said he knows the long waits all
too well. In the past, Maddox said, he would ride a trolley from one of his two
Dairy Queens on Atlantic Avenue to the other, then walk the 10 blocks back because
it was quicker than waiting for a trolley. The former system was ``utterly
unreliable,'' Maddox said.

Under the old system, passengers often flagged down trolley drivers between stops
causing delays. ``You can imagine how horrible it was. The trolley would stop three to four times
a block,'' Maddox said. The new system adds more stops -- one every two blocks .

About every 15 minutes, tourists can pay a dollar and ride the Wave from one end
of Atlantic Avenue to the other. The new motto -- ``Catch it here. VB Wave ride it'' -- is splashed against blue
waves on circular signs, marking trolley stops. The new tracking system uses global positioning and cellular phone technology to
coordinate timing between trolleys. At trolley headquarters, Moira Dessenberg, a supervisor and driver, watches a
screen filled with rectangles. The system lets her see if trolleys are behind or ahead of schedule and lets her text message drivers.

On her new flat-screen computer, four rectangles move about. One rectangle is
yellow, telling her the driver should pick up the pace a little. The green rectangle represents a trolley on schedule. The red is
ahead of schedule. ``It's the best thing I've seen come to this base in a long time,'' she said.
Drivers can use a data terminal inside the bus to send a message warning of a
blocked lane or emergency. The technology usually takes a year to install, but
Jurgen Greschner, president of INIT Inc., said his Chesapeake company had 90 days
to wire the Beach trolleys in time for summer. Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf said Friday that she hopes the new system will prevent
the trend of all trolleys being in one place while ``the masses of humanity are waiting for them'' at the other end.

http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=56858&ran=222926

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