As part of an upgrade to its new website, santaclarita.gov, the Santa Clarita City Council is also expected to spend around $200,000 to replace nearly 700 QR code bus signs around town.
The 12-year-old signs “are an easy and effective way for riders to receive real-time bus arrival information while waiting for a bus at any bus stop by simply scanning the code sign using their smartphones,” according to the city.
Particularly during the past two years, the city has seen an increase in the contactless means of looking up a route with the signs in real time, according to officials, and the transition from santa-clarita.com to the new .gov domain is the right time for an upgrade, per the council’s agenda.
“The current QR code signs are past their useful life and many stops have damaged or missing signs,” according to a report by Adrian Aguilar of the city’s Economic Development Department. “Additionally, with the city’s recent transition to santaclarita.gov, the existing signs will no longer be functional.”
The cost of the project was estimated by winning bidder Sterndahl Enterprises to be about $197,000, with up to a 10% contingency for cost overruns.
“In response to receiving only one bid, staff reached out to vendors who downloaded but ultimately did not submit a bid,” according to the council agenda. “The general feedback received was that due to low staffing levels, they were unable to prepare and submit a proposal on time, or that after downloading and reviewing the bid packet, their company was no longer interested in the project.”
