SANTA BARBARA, CA (02 August, 2004) SANTA BARBARA, CA: Santa Barbara-based CHK America, specialists in the visual communication of passenger information, have signed their fifth State of California client, Monterey-Salinas Transit (MST), it was announced today by Frederick A. Wood, President and CEO, CHK America.

MST has engaged CHK America to produce a System Map to communicate the agency’s public bus transportation services to the regions 310,000 population. Operating 31 routes over a 110 square-mile area of Monterey County, Southern Santa Cruz County and San Benito Counties, and servicing 1,260 bus-stops, MST carries approximately 5 million passengers per year. The new System-wide map, which will be available to passengers as a fold-out information guide, will establish new design elements that will be carried throughout future passenger information products, providing clear and concise information to encourage increased passenger ridership.

“We are delighted work together with the staff at MST to design the new Monterey/Salinas Transit’s System Map,” commented Wood. “The Monterey Salinas area is well known to be one of the most beautiful, well-visited areas of our country and we are looking forward to implementing an overall passenger information campaign that will communicate MST’s extensive services to residents and tourists alike.”

“We are excited to be working with CHK America to design our new system map,” says Brigga Mosca, Director of Marketing and Communications at Monterey/Salinas Transit. “The system map serves as a basis from which we can expand our service information to passengers at every stage of their journey”

Established in September 1999, CHK America provides passenger information solutions to the public transportation industry. CHK America’s current client list includes Los Angeles County MTA, Austin Capital Metro, Nashville MTA, San Antonio VIA, City of Pasadena and Transport for London

CHK America is a division of United Kingdom based Cook, Hammond and Kell, established to expand the reach of its parent company 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.

Monterey-Salinas Transit provides bus service to the greater Monterey and Salinas areas, King City, Big Sur and on to Watsonville and Gilroy. Service originates from two primary locations-the Monterey Transit Plaza, in central Monterey, and the Salinas Transit Center, in downtown Salinas. From these two locations, the bus lines branch out like spokes on a wheel. Service also originates from the Marina Transit Station and the Edgewater Transit Exchange in Sand City. On most lines, the bus travels out to its terminal, the end of the “spoke” then returns to its point of origin.