Papercast Ltd, a leading provider of battery and solar-powered e-paper passenger information displays, has been chosen by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) to enhance the customer experience for transit riders in downtown Los Angeles. This announcement made via a press release follows Papercast’s recent expansion into the North American market, with the opening of a new office in LA and the establishment of a dedicated Business Development and operations team.
After an extensive pilot program that spanned over 16 months and evaluated various e-paper providers in downtown LA locations, LA Metro selected Papercast’s 13-inch and 23-inch solar-powered e-paper displays. These displays will be installed on existing transit poles along the NextGen 204 line along Vermont Avenue. The objective is to assess the implementation of a countywide model that enhances the customer experience and boosts ridership across the entire Metro transit system.
LA Metro’s bus and rail routes comprise the third-largest transit system in the United States, serving more than 88 cities and towns. With an annual bus ridership of 198 million, LA Metro aims to transition from pandemic recovery to growth mode by prioritizing the needs of riders and advancing its NextGen Bus Plan. The plan focuses on building a modernized and customer-centric bus system that delivers fast, frequent, reliable, and accessible service.
As part of this strategy, LA Metro is integrating electronic (e-paper) displays throughout Los Angeles County to provide real-time bus arrival information from both Metro and municipal transit agencies. These displays are fully managed through Papercast’s cloud-connected Content Management System. Metro benefits from seamless API integration with real-time data feeds, intuitive content management features for creating and publishing informative visuals, and secure remote monitoring, operations management, and diagnostics for the displays.
“We are delighted to be part of LA Metro’s strategy to create an improved and more accessible passenger experience for Los Angeles County riders,” said Robert Bicket, CEO Papercast. “Real-time passenger information is integral to next generation, people-first transit services – providing greater certainty about bus arrivals and therefore greater customer satisfaction – and Papercast’s energy efficient, eco-friendly e-paper offers a smart display technology for transport authorities that are building for the future. This significant award signals, once again, a strong endorsement of our technology.”
With a keen interest in tech, I make it a point to keep myself updated on the latest developments in technology and gadgets. That includes smartphones or tablet devices but stretches to even AI and self-driven automobiles, the latter being my latest fad. Besides writing, I like watching videos, reading, listening to music, or experimenting with different recipes. The motion picture is another aspect that interests me a lot, and I'll likely make a film sometime in the future.