Worcester Regional Transit Authority (WRTA) Buses Gone?

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franciedog · #1 Post by **franciedog** » 16 Jan 2018 21:13

Has anyone heard the WRTA buses on the Worcester Trunked system? They used to be on 856.2625 with a PL of 110.9. I checked 854.4375 which was used by the WRTA for elder vans and heard nothing.

disp617 · #2 Post by **disp617** » 19 Jan 2018 11:55

They are longer on those frequencies. I do remember them well.They still have voice capabilities however I believe it's thru their AVL/GPS system.

#3 Post by **ecps92** » 13 Feb 2018 07:41

Wonder if they moved to one of the Regional Rentals.

Worcesters Contracted School buses are likely UHF TRBO [is it still Durham ?]

I was recently sent 452.3875 CC: 9 SL: 1 and TG: 1223901 [last 4 digits of the Bus RID is the Bus #]
Some PVT Calls and they cover a wide swatch of Worcester County [Hubbardston, Charlton, Templeton, Rutland and Dudley]

452.3875 returns to APPLIED COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES
the wiki only has the old Analog Boston info

disp617 wrote:They are longer on those frequencies. I do remember them well.They still have voice capabilities however I believe it's thru their AVL/GPS system.

MASSBUSMARK · #4 Post by **MASSBUSMARK** » 13 Feb 2018 18:48

A little searching on Google finds that J. P. McCarthy & Sons Bus Company is the school bus contractor for the Quabbin Regional School District, of which Hubbardston is a part of. Their website also mentions they have the contracts for Palmer and Pathfinder Regional School District.
Mark

KB1FJR · #5 Post by **KB1FJR** » 14 Feb 2018 16:50

I was listening to the 452.3875 could that maybe be a van pool or van transportation company?

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disp617 · #6 Post by **disp617** » 15 Feb 2018 07:14

I'm leaning more towards a van type transportation company. I believe first student does Charlton and Dudley. AA Transportation does Rutland and a bunch of surrounding towns. Durham still does worcester and Oxford. They are still using the UHF ltr system.

#7 Post by **ecps92** » 15 Feb 2018 07:31

Van Pool was still using Low Band Repeaters of recent monitoring.
Nice to see Low Band still in use.

KB1FJR wrote:I was listening to the 452.3875 could that maybe be a van pool or van transportation company?

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KB1FJR · #8 Post by **KB1FJR** » 15 Feb 2018 09:32

They go down to 29 or 30 mhz I wonder what model mobile radios they use. All you really need for mobile use only is a good low band set up.

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jbella · #9 Post by **jbella** » 15 Feb 2018 16:51

I heard a WRTA bus on the Emergency channel on the P25 system this a.m. calling in a crash.

As for Van Pool, I'll see what I can find out next time one crashes while I'm on duty. I've had 2 in 3 shifts so you may not have to wait long. <rolleyes>

disp617 · #10 Post by **disp617** » 15 Feb 2018 21:55

That was part of the deal when they stopped paying for police details on the busses. They have conventional 800 radios that are tied into the trunk system on the emergency interop channel to reach police dispatchers. They don't use that channel for day to day operations.

I listened to that freq this afternoon. It's a van service only. No mention of busses. Most of the locations I've heard were Charlton Dudley area

disp617 · #11 Post by **disp617** » 16 Feb 2018 13:44

That is confirmed Vanpool. Just heard a driver id has Vanpool van xxxx

#12 Post by **ecps92** » 19 Feb 2018 10:15

So the Quest for WRTA continues. Wiki updated

disp617 wrote:That is confirmed Vanpool. Just heard a driver id has Vanpool van xxxx

disp617 · #13 Post by **disp617** » 20 Feb 2018 20:04

I think the quest is ended. They are not analog or digital anywhere in the spectrum I can find and i've been looking for years.

As I said before I believe all their comms are via their GPS/AVL I found this .pdf of WRTA advisory board minutes from 2012

There was a complaint about no radios in new vans and it was reported they had the same system as the buses and the weakest link is Charter, the local cable tv, phone and internet provider. So i'm 95% sure they use their GPS/AVL to communicate for day to day operations.