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The Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART Bus), in Detroit, MI continues to invest in bus stop shelter amenities for its riders.  SMART is in the middle of a multi-year deployment of its new FAST shelters that feature a mix of solar powered digital technologies aimed to improve the ridership experience as well as reduce SMART’s operational overhead.

The bus shelters feature 400W of solar power that powers a 32” digital e-paper display, illuminated location sign, shelter security lighting and USB charging port.  The e-paper displays provide dynamic messaging with real-time bus arrival times, ridership alerts and marketing campaigns.  This reduces SMART’s need for printed schedules and maps and provides riders with updated arrival information every minute.  With the option to push marketing campaigns alongside real-time arrival info, SMART leverages the displays to post job openings, ridership incentives and community events.

Inside each FAST shelter is a SmartLink SL-4-DC controller that enables SMART’s operations team to remotely manage each of the devices from their office or mobile device.  Detroit experiences severe rain and snowstorms throughout the year and having the ability to remotely control its digital inventory drastically reduces the need for site visits.  The SmartLink system gives SMART the control to schedule each device individually, reboot the e-paper displays if they lose connectivity, and modify the solar power settings if necessary.  If a shelter location is poor for solar, the run-times of the devices can be remotely altered to maintain device uptime during the most critical operating times.

For more info on this project, contact Jenni Evans with OutdoorLink at jennifer@outdoorlinkinc.com or (256) 885-9768 ext. 309.

 

 

SMART Bus’s Solar Powered Bus Stop Shelters with SmartLink Remote Device Management System by OutdoorLink

Flexible solar panels mounted to the roof of the Eclipse bus stop shelter

Push button for solar powered LED lighting

SMART Bus’s Solar Powered Bus Stop Shelters with SmartLink Remote Device Management System by OutdoorLink

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Left to right: Dave Westburg (Billboard Insider), Brian Kline (Reliable Electric), PJ Pedroni (OutdoorLink)

Billboard Insider moderated a panel on cutting out of home utility costs at last week’s IBOUSA show.  Brian Kline of Reliable Electric and PJ Pedroni of OutdoorLink participated in the discussion.  Here’s a summary.

What are the benefits of installing high efficiency LED’s?

• High efficiency lights use 70-80% less power.
• Significantly less maintenance cost because there are no lamps or ballasts to replace. Most common item to be replaced in a LED fixture is the driver
• Copy has much better uniformity
• Higher CRI makes the color on copy more true
• Distinction between colors makes the copy appear to be brighter.

How much will high efficiency LED’s cost?

• Typical fixtures for Outdoor are going to run in the $400 range.  The cost has dropped 30-40% since 2012.  Many utilities have inventive programs which will allow you to reduce your fixture costs even further.
• Installation cost can vary between fixtures and structure configuration.  SmartLink has a full operations management division to support operator partners with projects like this.  They can provide you with an estimate if they know what fixtures you have.

What’s the return on investment?

•  The return on invested capital is 30-40% which equates to a 2-3 year payback.  Insider achieved a 37% return on investment by retrofitting lights at a Clear Lake Iowa billboard.
•  The expense savings is risk-free because you’ll achieve it regardless of economic conditions.

What are the benefits of installing SmartLink in connection with an LED retrofit?

• SmartLink systems minimize electric bills by automatically adjusting your light hours based on sunrise and sunset. It allows for multiple schedules should a customer require evening and morning illumination.
• SmartLink increases customer satisfaction by notifying you immediately of lighting outages so you can schedule maintenance trips promptly. The daily monitoring also alleviates any concern post LED fixture upgrade. Would notify you in the case anything should not be performing as expected, i.e. a driver has failed.
• SmartLink reduces maintenance costs by allowing you to remotely turn on and off lights, and manage operational tasks automatically like adjusting the entire plant for daylight savings without having to roll a truck. The diagnostic software allows you to determine most of your issues at a structure before leaving the plant.
• One IBOUSA member has added ”SmartLink control” on their contracts and ride sheets for illuminated panels. It differentiates them from their competition and allows them to maintain a premium price for the inventory.

How do I proceed with a retrofit?

• Inventory the lights which you want to replace.
• Contact Brian Kline at Reliable Electric (866-250-6445, bkline@reliable-electric.com)  and PJ Pedroni at OutdoorLink (253-377-8700,pjpedroni@outdoorlinkinc.com) to get a cost quote for the retrofit and for help identifying and securing utility rebates.
• If you wish to do the install yourself the LED’s can be shipped to your office so you can do the install yourself.
• If you want help with the install the LED units will be shipped to SmartLink and their installation crews will handle the install.

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Each MAX BRT station will feature a newly designed passenger waiting shelter, manufactured by Decamil, an integrated wayfinding kiosk, and/or a freestanding digital totem.  The wayfinding kiosks, manufactured by REDYREF, provide interactive trip-planning and real-time departure info, eliminating the need for printed maps and schedules. The kiosks feature a capacitive LCD touchscreen, speakers, a microphone, webcam, and an ADA compliant text-to-speech button for audio announcements.

The freestanding digital totem features the MAX station’s name with LED illumination, and a two-sided REDYREF LCD display that provides next-departure times and ridership alerts.

All Prospect MAX vehicles and stations will offer free WIFI to riders via Cradlepoint routers.

Governing all the devices at the MAX stations is a SmartLink management controller, provided by OutdoorLink, Inc. The SmartLink remotely monitors the performance of each device, sends outage alerts to KCATA when devices lose power or connectivity, and provides the ability to reboot them to restore service. Each device operates on its own schedule, which can be changed remotely at any time by KCATA through the SmartLink portal.

“Adding digital devices to transit stops often leads to an increase in time and costs spent to maintain them. SmartLink controllers provide the ability to remotely manage and backup these assets, so we’re able to resolve device downtime quickly and reduce the need for site visits,” says Jenni Evans, VP, Transit Solutions for OutdoorLink. “It’s a simple solution for managing devices at hundreds of stops, and we’re proud to help clients create more sustainable and scalable operations.”

For more details on this project or the technologies referenced, contact Doug Pew with OutdoorLink at doug@outdoorlinkinc.com.

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The obvious benefits of the SmartLink System are utility savings, as well as remote monitoring & control of your exterior lighting. Some of (what we call) the Soft Savings often get overlooked when evaluating the performance and value of the SmartLink System. This is a series, so we will be discussing a few of these “Soft Savings” each week.

The first (and possibly most valuable) on our list of “Soft Savings” is the elimination of NIGHT RIDES. Any billboard owner and operator is familiar with the term “Night Rides” or “Riding the Lights”. This term is used to describe the additional manpower and time spent ensuring that a structure’s lights are burning. The SmartLink System has made this time consuming (and outdated) effort a thing of the past. Billboard owners and operation management can make sure lights are burning from their smartphone or laptop even while sitting at home, spending time with their family. Aside from wasting valuable time that could be used otherwise, the SmartLink System eliminates the additional overhead in paying technicians overtime, as well as the maintenance and gas spent on vehicles.

The next item on our list of “Soft Savings” is the automatic adjustment for Daylight Savings Time. This might seem extremely minor, but don’t overlook this feature just yet. The SmartLink System operates on true Automatic Network time, based on a structure’s GPS coordinates. This enables the system to not only make the time adjustment to thousands of structures twice yearly, it also updates the time daily to eliminate money lost due to time drift. The savings owners will notice here is the elimination of traveling to each structure and HAND TURNING a time clock back or forward an hour for DLST. Once again, eliminating the additional overhead of paying employees over-time, as well as the cost of maintenance and gas spent on company vehicles. Additional savings can be seen with the elimination of time drift as well.

Please stay tuned for more features and benefits on our LONG list of Soft Savings. We will be continuing the “Soft Savings” Series as a regular blog update!

The post Introducing the “Soft Savings” Series: The SmartLink Savings you may be Overlooking appeared first on Outdoorlink.

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BACKGROUND:

Founded in 1902, Lamar Advertising Company (Nasdaq: LAMR) is one of the largest outdoor advertising companies in North America, with more than 315,000 displays across the United Stated, Canada, and Puerto Rico.  Lamar offers advertisers a variety of billboard, interstate logo, and transit advertising formats that help both local businesses and national brands reach broad audiences daily.  In addition to its more traditional Out-Of-Home inventory, Lamar is proud to offer its customers the largest network of digital billboards in the United States with over 2,000 displays.  Lamar is considered one of the nation’s leading outdoor billboard companies in respect to superior outdoor locations, effective design, and affordable production, all backed by a truly excellent service team.

Lamar of Dallas, Texas is proud to serve the advertising needs of the Dallas and Fort Worth areas.  With their extensive inventory of Billboards and Digital Displays, they can craft a campaign and successfully reach any target audience.  The Lamar Dallas, TX plant has 510 structures, which is roughly over 1, 100 displays, available for clients to advertise.

Almost all locations are positioned on high-traffic interstate and highways in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.  With coverage in Collin, Dallas, Denton, Tarrant, and the 12 surrounding countries, they can offer far-reaching exposure, as well as target specific areas and demographics.  As the home of major sports teams, museums, amusement parks, entertainment venues, and over 400 corporate headquarters, Dallas is a leader in big business and is one of the top travel destinations in the U.S.

CHALLENGE:

Lamar has always relied heavily upon conventional timers such as photocells, mechanical time clocks, and other smart timers such as Profile, to turn their billboard lights on and off.  This meant that most lights burned more daily kilowatts than necessary, which also led to higher monthly utility costs.  A phenomenon known as “time drift” was an ongoing daily issue.  This occurred when utility power was lost at a location.  The timers would slowly drift from the correct time, causing the lights to come on too early or too late.

Another challenge was that many of the timers used were not upgradeable.  They utilized Analog signal communication which was set to go dormant in the summer of 2009.  Once this occurred, the “time drift” phenomenon would become even more evident and employees would have to react by visiting many locations and adjusting the time.  Employees would also have to visit all locations twice a year to adjust the time for Daylight Savings.

Lamar’s employees had to visit, or “ride”, to each location weekly and report any bulb outages or other electrical issues to the Operations Manager.  The Operations Manager would then create a “trouble ticket” and give it to the electrician for repair.  Without riding the lights, electrical issues were never detected unless a client discovered and reported them.  At this point, the client asked for a credit.  Most contracts between Lamar and its clients state that a credit must be issued if the nightly illumination was knowingly interrupted for more than 72 hours.  To minimize the potential credits, Lamar would have to expedite trouble tickets to electricians and subcontractors which led to higher-than-normal ongoing maintenance costs.

In addition, Lamar has several employees, known as Charting managers, whose sole responsibilities are to manage the client contract dates, make sure the ad gets posted on time, and notify operations of the contract expiration.  This procedure was accomplished by passing paperwork back and forth between the departments.  As a contract expired with a client, Lamar employees were sent to manually turn off the lights for any unsold advertisement.  They did this by turning the breaker off.  If not, the lights would continue to burn every night and Lamar would continue to pay higher monthly utility costs while not collecting any additional revenue from the former client.

Every Structure visit employee, fuel, insurance, and vehicle maintenance expenses for Lamar.  The above scenarios would either cost Lamar additional utilities or possible credits issued to clients.

SOLUTION:

Although Lamar Dallas had already invested in Profile, they were still looking for more than utility savings.  They were searching for a solution that could give them remote CONTROL of their billboard illumination and utilities, and also notify them when they has electrical issues.  Further, they were seeking a smarter solution that could be upgraded as cellular technology required them to do so.  SmartLink™ was their solution!

OutdoorLink, Inc., manufacturer of the SmartLink™ lighting controller, installed the SmartLink™ 302 Lighting controller on all 510 of the Lamar Dallas billboard locations.  The SmartLink™ 302 is a cellular, M2M lighting controller designed to remotely control and monitor billboard lighting.  The modem card within the SmartLink™ unit is upgradeable and can provide cellular service through AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile.  The SmartLink™ was designed specifically for the Outdoor billboard industry by former outdoor billboard professionals with over 50 years of experience.

The SmartLink™ allows Lamar to remotely turn their billboard lights on and off with different burn schedules, which allows them to save wasted kilowatts and only illuminate necessary lights at predetermined times.  “Time Drift” is completely eliminated with SmartLink™ ‘s Automatic Network Time feature.  Once utility power is restored, the SmartLink™ automatically receives the correct time.  The daily sunset and sunrise change is calculated, as well as Daylight Savings twice a year, and accounted for at every location, eliminating more wasted utility and the need for manual time adjustment.

The SmartLink™ will also monitor the billboard lights in Real Time and send email notifications when power is lost, power is restored, or a bulb burns out.  In most cases, Lamar can quickly dispatch their electrician to fix the electrical issues within 48 hours.  Proof of Performance reports are always available online which verify the lights turned on, when the lights shut off, and if there were any electrical issues during the period of time.  The entire illumination process is now transparent.

Additionally, the SmartLink™ can easily integrate with Lamar’s charting system, which streamlines operations and automates the illumination schedule based on the contract start and end dates.  Lamar no longer has to manually visit a location to turn off the lights when a contract expires.

RESULT:

Lamar Dallas, TX has saved an average of $8,679.00 on their monthly utility bill, or 26 percent since installing the SmartLink™ lighting controller, thus creating a cumulative savings of over $607,500.00 since June of 2009.  The ROI was 23 months, which is very impressive for the outdoor billboard industry.  The number was higher due to their previous investment into Profile.  These savings have allowed Lamar to invest in other technology such as Digital billboards and the new LED light fixtures at a very minimal impact to their bottom line.

Also, Lamar no longer has to “ride” their billboard lights.  Nightly proof of performance reports are available online to validate illumination and any electrical issues that might have occurred.  The Operations Manager can simply log into his online SmartLink™ account to view any new electrical issues.  Customer credits have been reduced or almost eliminated.  The SmartLink™ ‘s reliability has reduced the volume of open electrical repair tickets from 2 – 3 weeks to a consistent backlog og only a day or so.

Lamar has been able to reduce the number of charting employees responsible for charting activities.  Through the integration of SmartLink™ and their charting system, Lamar can now focus less on paperwork and more on providing their clients the best overall experience in the industry.

Customer satisfaction is at the highest level for Lamar in many years.  Clients tell Lamar that their overall illumination outpaces the competition.  Employee, fuel, insurance, and vehicle maintenance expenses have all been drastically reduced.
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