Four US transportation providers will jointly work to improve the cost-effectiveness of transit services in Western Kentucky, by using the ITS technology.

The four providers are linked by a centralised computer network that connects with all the providers’ vehicles through in-vehicle computers, according to traffictechnologytoday.com.

Using the central computer network, alerts and schedule changes received through mobile computers, are expected to be directly sent to individual vehicles via messages.

The ITS technology, including automatic vehicle location, computer-aided scheduling and dispatching, and interactive voice response are intended to help providers in bettering their services.

The technology is also expected to aid the agencies to ease customer access and enable coordination and resource sharing between the agencies.

The agencies involved are Paducah Area Transit System, Fulton County Transit, Murray-Calloway County Transit, and Easter Seals West Kentucky.