If the bus is late, riders will soon know by how much.
A new, transportation management system worth $7 million is expected to be installed in the Big Blue Bus’ fleet in the next 18 months, which will tell people at the bus stop where their bus is and when it will get there, said customer relations manager Joe Stitcher.
“The global positioning system will be able to give us real time,” he said. “There will be time boards that will tell you the bus will be there in, say, three minutes.”
The system also will have a trip plan-ning service that will give customers an itinerary for where they want to go within the Big Blue Bus’ service area. Via its Web site, or an automated phone system, people can find out what routes will get them to their destination and how long it will take them.
“Say you want to go from Fourth and Santa Monica to Barrington, it will kick back an itinerary for you,” Stitcher said.
People also will be able to check on-line to see if their bus is on time, or how the long the delay will be, Stitcher said.
A new radio system will go into the entire fleet so drivers can communicate with each other in case buses need to be re-routed to handle scheduling problems, Stitcher said.
The system, which could be approved by the Santa Monica City Council on Tuesday, is expected to take 18 months to be installed. The first items that will be completed are the voice response system and the trip planning features. The last amenity available most likely will be the real time boards at bus stops.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 17, 2002. Read the original PDF.