CTA and PACE riders shivering at the bus stop may one day have a real-time countdown letting them know how much longer they must endure the cold.
The Regional Transportation Authority is working to install electronic devices at select bus stops that would track the location of the next bus and count down to its arrival.
RTA spokesman Dave Loveday says the system will work with global tracking satellites that share location information between PACE, CTA and the RTA. Bus location and expected arrival times eventually may be available on the Internet and through cell phone updates, Loveday said.
“People will know the bus is five minutes away and need to get to that bus stop,” Loveday said. “People will be able to stay inside and stay warm.”
The system will be demonstrated around the end of next year. The idea for providing real-time information is new and Loveday said the RTA is still in the research phase. Countdown systems are used for mass transit in several European cities.
The RTA is not announcing if the system will be permanent or on which routes it would be used. Areas with both a bus and a train station, such as Cumberland on the Blue Line, would most likely receive a countdown system, Loveday said.
Bus rider Amy Smolen of Lakeview watched four Route 147 and 157 buses pass her on Michigan Avenue during her
10-minute wait to catch a Route 143, 146 or 151 bus to Belmont Avenue. “You would think with three buses I could possibly take that I wouldn’t have to wait 10 or 20 minutes,” she said.
The countdown system sounds like a good idea to Smolen but she said she isn’t convinced it would be accurate. “I’d probably have to check it out first, to see if it really works,” she said.
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Compiled from RedEye news services.
