Real-time IndyGo bus information soon may be an app search, text or call away

Source: The Indianapolis StarAug.迷你倉新蒲崗 17--IndyGo is an old-school bus system in a smartphone world.But not for much longer. The Indianapolis transit agency is readying a technology upgrade that will put real-time bus arrival information at riders' fingertips.The move, along with other recent changes and plans to open a Downtown transit center in two years, signals a long-stagnant transit service finally making an aggressive bid to improve service and attract more riders.Transit systems in other cities including Chicago, Boston and Miami have been quicker to make real-time train or bus arrival information available to riders, via smartphone apps or screens showing upcoming arrivals at stations or stops.In Indianapolis, both are on the way in the next year.Several changes are on the horizon that could make the bus system's 31 routes more user-friendly:-- Next-arriving buses: Late this year or early next year, IndyGo plans to test display screens showing upcoming bus arrivals at Downtown's Ohio Street bus stops, the most common transfer points between lines. Depending on feedback and funding, more could follow at high-traffic stops.-- Apps: By next spring or summer, the transit agency plans to develop and roll out Android and iPhone apps with mapping features and real-time arrival information, using a unique code displayed on each stop.-- Text and phone access: Riders without smartphones won't be left out, with access to real-time information available about the same time by texting a stop's code to an IndyGo phone number; a reply will provide the next arrival time.Or they will be able to call an automated phone system that works similarly.For now, Jojuana Taylor's experience Thursday afternoon was typical of many riders' frustration.Unlike regular daily commuters, she hadn't memorized the schedules for the buses she was taking to get from the Westside to the Far-Eastside to pick up her paycheck. When she arrived at a common transfer stop at Ohio and Meridian streets Downtown, she had just missed her transfer to Route 39."I want to know when the next one comes," said Taylor, 31, a fast-food cashier, as well as whether it's late.That need is more pressing outside Downtown, where bus stops often have a simple IndyGo sign without a shelter -- or even a posted bus schedule.Not that riders are without options now.They can call IndyGo's customer service line -- (317) 635-3344 -- to learn whether a bus is running late, and by how long. But that office is closed after 7 p.m. on weekdays and most of the weekend.Or riders can keep an eye on IndyGo's active Twitter account (@IndyGoBus) for alerts about buses that are running particularly late.And IndyGo already has nodded to the smartphone set by providing updated schedules to Google for its mapping website and apps, which use the information to give point-to-point directions.Benjamin Hunt, 32, a Downtown bar manager who owns a bicycle but not a car, says the ability for the last year or so to map IndyGo's routes on his iPhone's Google Maps app has changed his outlook on riding the bus.The drawback: Google's directions only say when a bus is supposed to arrive."I like to get迷你倉出租to my bus stop about five minutes before I need to be there," Hunt said. "They're rarely early, they're usually a couple minutes late."If there was an app (with real-time information), I would download that in a second."So would Matt Hanger, 36, a software engineer who rides IndyGo a couple times a week."Having access to a schedule is different from knowing where the bus is right now," the Northside resident said, recalling a confusing recent experience Downtown in which he thought he missed his bus. He walked a few blocks to catch one on a different route.Then he watched as the original bus passed by. Turns out, it was just running late, Hanger said.Within IndyGo, real-time bus tracking has been reality for years. All buses have GPS locators transmitting signals to the central office.But the decade-old internal system isn't compatible with smartphone apps or similar consumer tools. Samantha Cross, the agency's vice president of business development, says IndyGo plans an upgrade in the next six months to a new system that works with those tools.IndyGo has $715,000 reserved for the project, mostly from federal grants.Other future possibilities, Cross said, include putting a map showing buses' locations on the IndyGo website and making the real-time data available to outside app and web developers.They could come up with something new to help riders."These kinds of tools will certainly enhance the experience and make it easier to use the bus," Cross said. "This will help recruit new passengers, and it'll also help our current passengers."Transit agencies in other metropolitan areas offer a wide variety of apps and other tools, though the American Public Transportation Association says many still are catching up to riders' technologies of choice."Different places have done it in different ways, but it's something that is increasingly popular and used," said Virginia Miller, the association's spokeswoman.But ask riders such as Hanger, Hunt and Taylor, and they will tell you technology isn't the only shortcoming keeping IndyGo from becoming more user-friendly.With some lines running only every 30 minutes or even every hour at times, they said more frequent buses and longer hours would go a long way to making the system more predictable -- and making knowledge of schedules less important.This year, IndyGo has added more frequency to some high-demand routes, expanded service hours, simplified routes and added the new cross-town Route 86. But it has long has struggled to address more comprehensive service improvements.IndyGo CEO Michael Terry says the agency will keep making small improvements it can afford until voters or local officials decide to invest more significantly in the system.That could come to a head next year, when the General Assembly again will debate whether to authorize a tax referendum for a 10-year, $1.3 billion transit overhaul in Central Indiana.Until then, IndyGo aims to ensure that even if the bus doesn't come often enough, you'll know when to expect it.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Indianapolis Star Visit The Indianapolis Star at .IndyStar.com Distributed by MCT Information Services儲存倉