Thomas Built Buses Partner With Zonar Systems

I think we all know that it won’t be too many years before just about every vehicle on the road – including buses – come equipped with GPS and other sorts of electronic telematics systems, but who would have thought it would be so soon.

Thomas Built Buses has announced a partnership with Zonar Systems to offer factory-installed telematics features for Thomas Built Buses’ Saf-T-Liner C2 models as standard equipment. This telematics equipment will provide verified electronic vehicle inspection, fleet GPS tracking, and remote diagnostics systems for public and private fleets, as well as the ability to provide inside on overall vehicle performance, driver behavior, and even monitoring the bus passengers to a unique multiplex wiring system.

According to the announcement, the data will provide real-time diagnostics which can be used to determine maintenance issues and keep costs of ownership down by optimizing performance.

Company officials say the telematic features will be available on all 2016 model-year Saf-T-Liner C2 orders beginning in July, and on all other models in the near future.

Of course, you can always have these systems installed in a bus that is being customized or restored. But, this serves as an indication that it won’t be long until every bus has these features.