SANTA BARBARA, CA (16 July 2003) Santa Barbara-based CHK America, specialists in the visual communication of transportation data, have re-designed the system-wide Map for Nashville’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA), recently listed in Metro Magazine’s May 2003 issue as one of this year’s “10 Most Improved Transit Systems” in the nation. That announcement was made today by Frederick A. Wood, President and CEO, CHK America.

CHK America’s in-house design, production and editorial experts designed the new system map for MTA’s schedule change this month, presenting cartographic and service information in a method that allows passengers to easily and quickly comprehend the 41 routes serving the 500 square miles of the Metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County area. Serving Greater Nashville’s population of 1.23 million, MTA transported riders on more than 7 million trips in the last fiscal year. MTA also plans to introduce improved and simplified pocket bus schedules next year.

“Our expertise in the transportation industry lies in our ability to convey complicated transportation information in an easy to understand manner,” explains Wood. “Our studies indicate that passengers allow approximately 8 seconds to interpret travel information. They must begin receiving answers in that time or they become frustrated, resulting in passenger dissatisfaction.”

“The feedback from both staff and the general public about the Nashville area transit map has been extremely positive, commented Patricia Harris-Morehead, Director of Communications, Metropolitan Transit Authority. “We were impressed with the professionals who worked on this project with us. We had an extremely tight deadline and needed to have a finished product in time for system changes. The CHK America team did everything that was possible to deliver a quality product on time. We appreciate their efforts and will be happy to recommend CHK America to other transit agencies.”

CHK America has also recently been awarded Passenger Information Solution projects for Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Austin Capital Metro, Santa Barbara MTD and San Antonio VIA.

Established in September 1999, CHK America provides passenger information solutions to the public transportation industry, in addition to delivering cartographic products and services across other business sectors. CHK America, a division of United Kingdom based Cook, Hammond and Kell, was established to expand the reach of its parent company’s products across the US. CHK’s products and services have been distributed extensively across Europe for over 140 years. Other companies in the group include Cook, Hammond and Kell, FWT Studios, Oxford Cartographers, National Map Center London, National Map Center Dublin.