Tampa taps Orbital Sciences for transportation management

Orbital Sciences Corp. will deliver transportation management systems to the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority in Tampa, Fla., under a $9 million contract.

Orbital of Dulles, Va., will furnish computer-aided dispatch and automatic vehicle location systems. The company's AVL system delivers global positioning system information that the transit authority can use to operate more efficiently and safely to manage its fleet of more than 300 fixed route, paratransit and support vehicles.

Paratransit vehicles provide transportation for people with disabilities and the elderly. The AVL system will furnish paratransit drivers with real-time updates of their daily schedules.

Orbital's Transportation Management Systems division will oversee the work. The unit integrates technology products for fleet and workforce management, mobile data communications, data management, and advanced traveler information systems.

The parent company had annual sales of $703.5 million in fiscal 2005, according to Hoover's Online of Austin, Texas.