The following article appeared in the June 21 edition of the Guelph Mercury:
Freezing at your local stop waiting for the bus to arrive should be a thing of the past.
Guelph Transit has launched a new global-positioning system for its city buses that will allow riders to find expected times of arrival and departure using their phone.
The system is now up and running.
The Next Bus system was officially unveiled at Guelph Transit’s operations centre on Watson Road yesterday. Ward 3 Councillor June Hofland said this “takes the guesswork out of riding the bus.”
The advanced computer-monitoring system designed by Toronto-based Grey Island Systems gives a real-time, up-to-the minute prediction of when a bus will arrive.
It takes into account red lights and traffic as well as such factors as construction.
Guelph Transit riders can dial a number posted at all bus stops — 519-341-2468 — and punch in a four-digit code specific to that location to determine when the next bus will arrive, and when the bus after that will arrive.
“It’ll be great in the winter,” Hofland said, “so riders can wait inside until closer to the time when the bus arrives.”
The high-tech system cost about $340,000, with Transport Canada subsidizing roughly $250,000, plus an annual cost of around $36,000 per year to keep the wireless system running and up to date.
During the presentation, Ward 2 Councillor Vicki Beard asked what people who don’t have a cellphone or BlackBerry wireless device can do.
“It’s a major drawback if we aren’t catering to every person. It seems there’s a gap there,” Beard said.
But Steve Sarafinovski, the supervisor of scheduling, said riders could call the number ahead of time before leaving their office or home and find out how long it will be till the next bus. Or they could check online (at www.nextbus.com).
“Riders can even receive e-mail notices telling them when a bus they regularly take will be arriving.”
Hofland believes the NextBus system will be a model for other transit systems to follow.
Beard said after the presentation she feels the NextBus system is a move in the right direction.
The city introduced the system as the first of its kind in Canada, although the executive vice-president for Grey Island Systems clarified that.
Brian Boychuk said the transit line in Saskatoon recently launched a similar idea with Grey Island Systems, but it was a project that only ran for a few months.
Owen Moore, president of Grey Island Systems, said he was excited about the Guelph launch.
“It’s been proven south of the border and with the cold weather up here it’s needed,” Moore said.
Stephen MacNeil, president of local 1189 of the Amalgamated Transit Union, praised the system.
“We’re moving into the future with this,” he said. “I think the majority of Guelph will be able to access this system and it will alleviate the pressure between passenger and driver.”
MacNeil said when drivers are late, passengers generally take it out on the driver. As well, he said, Guelph Transit will be able to keep track of statistics and pinpoint if some of the bus routes are too long. “It’s a nice tool to try to prove our point.”
And “the system does have a lot of other good qualities, such as measuring the distance of runs, ridership and length of time for runs,” MacNeil said.