Collaborating with Nashville WeGo Public Transit to Expand OnSite Yard Management Capabilities

WeGo Public Transit Modernizes Operations with Vontas Technology

WeGo Public Transit in Nashville serves a rapidly growing city with 180 fixed-route buses, 90 paratransit vehicles, and nearly 30,000 daily passengers. Keeping pace with this growth requires a strong focus on innovation—particularly in fleet management and service reliability. Since 2014, WeGo has partnered with Vontas to improve productivity and maintain a more efficient fleet. The agency successfully streamlined operations and enhanced service using Vontas’ CAD/AVL and yard management systems. But in 2022, WeGo’s leadership identified an opportunity to boost efficiency even further by addressing a persistent challenge at their downtown transit centre.

Expanding Beyond the Yard

Frequent downtown construction near the centre created major congestion, leading to unpredictable travel times and increasingly complex schedule management. “We were looking at other ways that we could still deliver customers a reliable service that doesn’t necessarily rely so heavily on a strict schedule,” said Dan Freudberg, WeGo’s Deputy Chief Operating Officer of Operations Systems. The design of WeGo’s downtown transit centre also worsened the issue. The multi-level facility was built with heavy concrete and steel, which blocked GPS signals and created an “urban canyon effect.” Without reliable location data, it was nearly impossible to accurately track when buses departed, throwing off arrival predictions for passengers. “When our CAD/AVL’s GPS is blocked by all the cement and the steel, it can’t see the sky anymore, it can’t communicate with the satellites and that location is no longer accurate,” said Andrea Costa, Product Manager at Vontas. Rather than accept these limitations, WeGo and Vontas collaborated on a new idea: expand the Vontas yard management system beyond the traditional bus yard and into the passenger transit centre itself.

Vontas OnSite Meets the Challenge

Adapting the OnSite system to a multi-level facility required meticulous planning. Vontas began by conducting a comprehensive survey of the building to develop an installation strategy tailored to its architectural layout and materials. To ensure accurate tracking, each antenna needed an unobstructed line of sight to the vehicle tags. “The initial phase involves a complex planning process to determine where each component should be installed, based on the building’s mapping and structure,” explained Costa. “This allows us to estimate how many antennas are needed to achieve optimal coverage.” Once the design was finalized, third-party specialists carried out the installations. The antennas and tags were then integrated into WeGo’s existing CAD/AVL system, enabling real-time tracking of vehicle movements—even in areas where GPS signals were unreliable. “What drew us to this solution was its ability to provide continuous vehicle tracking,” said Freudberg. “We could see each vehicle’s location on a map and determine whether it was occupying a specific parking spot or bus bay.”

Careful Integration and a Phased Rollout

Vontas’ approach to customer training and system integration was phased and hands-on. During installation, a few vehicles were equipped with the new technology to allow key WeGo project team members to learn the system gradually. “Not the entire staff, but just a few key members are getting introduced to the product,” Costa explained. “Then we expand and install more antennas and tag more buses as we go on, and as the fleet grows and the coverage in the facility grows, so does that person’s knowledge of the system.” Once key users completed acceptance testing, broader staff training followed. WeGo could either train their own staff internally or opt for direct Vontas-led sessions to ensure operational readiness.

Collaborating to Innovate

Since extending OnSite into a transit centre was a novel use of the technology, ongoing collaboration was critical. Throughout the project, Vontas and WeGo maintained a strong, cooperative partnership. “Given the somewhat experimental nature of this initiative, we had to work very closely with Vontas,” said Freudberg. “We encountered challenges none of us had anticipated at the beginning, but they were consistently available to help us troubleshoot and find solutions together.”

Delivering Real Results for Nashville Riders

Today, WeGo’s downtown transit centre is equipped with enhanced vehicle tracking capabilities, giving dispatchers and customer service agents real-time insights to manage operations more efficiently. Managers can now monitor vehicle statuses at a glance, respond swiftly to delays, and reroute buses as needed. For passengers, this translates to more accurate arrival times, fewer unexpected disruptions, and an overall better transit experience. “That’s one of the reasons we value the WeGo team so highly,” said Costa. “They’re incredibly innovative and deeply committed to their riders. They consistently bring us exciting challenges that allow us to push the boundaries of our software and discover new ways to integrate our solutions into transit agencies.” We’re proud to have partnered with WeGo to extend our yard management technology beyond its traditional scope—setting a new benchmark for urban transit operations and helping keep Nashville moving forward.

Want to learn more? Check out the full BusRide artiRecle about WeGo and Vontas’ collaboration here.