The Intelligent Transportation Society of New York (ITS-NY) recently honored public transportation agencies in New York City and Albany with Outstanding Project of the Year Awards.

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) received ITS-NY’s its Outstanding Project of the Year Award in Advanced Traveler Information Systems for its “On the Go! Travel Station.” The Capital District Transportation Authority (CDTA) in Albany earned recognition for its first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project as Outstanding Project of the Year in Advanced Public Transport Systems.

“On the Go!” is an interactive touch screen kiosk introduced last year at three MTA New York City Transit subway stations, Penn Station, and Grand Central Terminal.

The stainless steel enclosure supports a large screen with a colorful display, offering customers information about their entire trip, such as planning with Trip Planner+, real-time service status, escalator and elevator status, and local neighborhood maps. In addition, the MTA partnered with third-party developers to include added value applications like local history, shopping and dining options, and news and weather information.

Andrew Bata, NYC Transit chief for strategic improvements and best practices, received the ITS-NY Distinguished Member Award for his work on the On the Go! project.

CDTA’s “NY5” service is the first BRT project in upstate New York, operating along the 17-mile Route 5 corridor between downtown Schenectady and downtown Albany. The route carries both the highest arterial traffic volumes and the largest number of public transit riders in the region.

ITS-NY noted the contributions of Creighton Manning Engineering and IBI Group to the project, including such new technologies as light rail transit signal indications; transit signal priority; real-time passenger information displays; Global Positioning Satellite-based mobile data communication on the buses; closed-circuit television monitoring; and a gateway to the existing fiber network. The corridor also offers CDTA’s first exclusive bus queue jump lanes.