University of California Transportation Center

New information, telecommunications and electronics technologies provide valuable tools to public transit agencies working to improve service quality and safety, reduce costs and increase ridership. In the 1990's, transit agencies began taking advantage of the many opportunities available, enthusiastically embracing some new technologies and moving cautiously forward with others. Smart cards, the Internet, geographic information systems, global-positioning systems, wireless communications, and other advanced technologies - all important components of "intelligent transportation systems" (or ITS) - have begun changing the ways transit agencies do business and transit users get around.