Wide Area Network to manage the public transit bus fleet

The main objective of this research was to propose the design of a Wide Area Network to manage the public transit bus fleet in the city of Cabimas. In the context of this network, it was contemplated the design of a smart system for bus stops which share communication with the Global Positioning System installed in the bus fleet and a monitoring-management center from where all the information is to be received from vehicles and bus stops in order for it to be centralized, allowing users to access data and positioning of public transport buses in real time, detailing the vehicle's estimated time of arrival, weather forecasts, among others requests. From a methodological standpoint, the methodology used was that of a descriptive, documentary and non-experimental study, and theoretically supported by several authors such as Arias (2012), Yin (2012) and Barrera (2013) for its validation. The research was executed through five phases, starting by determining the system requirements, followed by the selection of main components, then the design of the intelligent systems to be interconnected through the WAN, the simulation of said network and finishing with a cost analysis. Therefore, the network topology to be used, the OSI layer model and the physical topology were all identified and simulated using Cisco's Packet Tracer software to observe its operation in a virtual environment. Lastly, from the results obtained, the WAN's logical and physical topologies were accomplished, evidencing its functionality through simulation and within the intelligent transport management system, making it possible to provide the end user with a quality urban transit service, optimizing transportation within the city and thus assisting the technological growth of the locality in accordance with the concept of smart cities.