Call Boxes Latest Target of Y2K Bug

Add call boxes along the state’s freeways and interstates to an already long list of things that if not upgraded could go haywire the moment the calendar reads Jan. 1, 2000, transportation officials said.

Although the Y2K bug is at the center of a number of half-baked and overly apocalyptic predictions, experts and county transportation officials are taking the matter seriously.

“These things are essentially computers on a stick, and we’ve all heard what might happen to computers if they aren’t upgraded,” said Chris Stephens of the Ventura County Transportation Commission who is heading up a study of the problem. “So right now it’s a problem, but we’re aware of it.”

With about 550 call boxes located along major arteries like the Ventura, Moorpark and Ronald Reagan freeways, Stephens doesn’t expect the job of upgrading the hardware or software to be that difficult or time-consuming.

Although the problem is of concern to transportation officials, Y2K noncompliance would not affect the devices’ communication ability and should not be of concern to motorists, who will still be able to call for assistance from unfixed call boxes, officials said.

The major concern is that the boxes will not be able to record date and time-sensitive information such as when and where the call was made from a specific location.

The Southern California Automobile Club in Los Angeles said that while it is aware of the problem, it isn’t one that would affect the safety of motorists and therefore it isn’t pressing for any rapid response.

Last month, Stephens and a group of commission staff members began studying the problem to assess its severity, how long it will take to fix and at what cost.

Stephens anticipates the report will be finished and reviewed by commission board members within the next three months, at which time the work of upgrading the call boxes will begin.

“I don’t really see this as being much of a problem for us here [in Ventura County],” Stephens said. “Once we know exactly what has to be done, the work should be completed pretty fast.”

Most of the 16,000 call boxes in the state are maintained by Irvine-based Comarco Wireless, a firm devoted almost exclusively to the solar-powered devices.

Company Vice President Sebastian Gutierrez said he will recommend to county transportation officials that all the boxes be retrofitted with new hardware that will prolong the life of the decade-old system.

He estimates the cost of upgrading the system to be about $750 per device, or about $412,000 for Ventura County.

“We think that’s the best way to go about this,” he said. “These systems were only designed to operate for about 10 years and they’ve already pretty much reached their life span . . . With the retrofit, those call boxes will be good for another 10 years and we’ll be able to solve the Y2K problem.”

Despite the fact that a little more than 10 months remain before dawn breaks on the new millennium, Gutierrez said the company will have little problem upgrading both the county’s and state’s roadside-assistance system.

“Our goal is to not have any kind of service interruption,” he said. “And this is a pretty straightforward process that once we get started won’t take very long to complete.”