Metro St. Louis, which operates the public transportation system for the St. Louis region, has teamed up with Accenture Ltd. on a pilot program designed to use data collected from local buses to forecast equipment failures.

"Our objective for this pilot was to really show that we can take advantage of existing sensor data off these buses and perform some sophisticated statistical analysis to try and forecast bus performance failures before they occur so you can take corrective action," said Baiju Shah, who directs Accenture Technology Lab"s Predictive Insight practice in Chicago.

Under the pilot project, which was launched in February and is called Predictive Monitoring, St. Louis city buses have been equipped with sensors to monitor engine and transmission information, Shah said.

The information is stored electronically in data collection boxes installed on each vehicle and then downloaded weekly and sent electronically to computers at Accenture labs for analysis, he said. In the near future, the data will be transmitted wirelessly, eliminating the need for downloading, according to Accenture.

Once at the labs, the data is evaluated by an analytic engine -- software that compares a snapshot of the buses" operational data with an analytic model that reflects "normal" operating behavior, he said.

After identifying potential issues, the software automatically notifies maintenance personnel via e-mails, pagers or Web site alerts. The transit authority can then determine how to react, performing maintenance at a time that minimizes service disruption and costs.

"We seem to be getting information about things that may be... going a little awry in the actual operation of the vehicle that might not show up until there is a breakdown or until there is a much more costly repair required," said Metro spokeswoman Dianne Williams.

When the pilot program is completed at the end of this month, Metro will decide whether to implement the system on its fleet of 433 buses, Williams said.

Accenture plans to package the system and sell it to other transportation agencies.