Sunday, July 28, 2019 ~ VICTORIA
by Mary Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
On Thursday afternoon July 25 at the busy University of Victoria (UVic) bus depot in Saanich, technology moved forward to transit users in the region.
Not knowing when the next bus is coming is now a thing of the past in Greater Victoria, if you’re using the new NextRide real-time data-driven website and smartphone app that that officially launched by a clearly pleased group of transit staff and community leaders.
In operation for a few days already (July 21 activation) on all 294 buses in the Victoria Regional Transit System, the new bus location technology provides BC Transit users with real-time data on the location of their bus and its predicted arrival time at a stop. If a bus is full, you’ll know if another one is soon coming.
The responsive bctransit.com/nextride website was tested by several VIPs on their smartphones during the official launch. They gatheredfor speeches then took a bus ride for a live demonstration led by Neil Corbett, Program Director, Smart Technology.
Mitzi Dean, MLA (Esquimalt-Metchosin) said that bus transit in Victoria is a “green, clean, affordable and more reliable way to get to and connect to the places people go to”.
Victoria Regional Transit Commission Chair Susan Brice noted added accessibility, visual scrolls, and audible site announcements as great new features.
“Transit’s time has come,” said Brice. “It’s a time when everyone knows how important a good public transportation network is to our community.”
Brice said that buses are now a more attractive transportation option, and reminded the crowd about last week’s announcement of 118 new buses by the Prime Minister and BC Premier, which includes 10 electric buses, 11 more double-deckers, and vehicles that will operate on compressed natural gas.
BC Transit says the new technology is part of enticing new ridership. “People expect info at their fingertips,” said BC Transit’s VP Business Development, Christy Ridout.
Ridbout said over 80% of bus riders access the transit website by smartphones or tablet. “It’s one more tool for our customers.” She called NextRide the beginning of a journey.
“With technology evolving rapidly we will be diligently evaluating our technological needs, for our business and our customers. The top priority is a reliable trip. For daily commuters we hope this puts the control back in your hands, more time back in your day with a reliable, convenient technological tool,” said Ridout.
NextRide has been in development for over three years, a project for which Neil Corbett was brought on board as Program Director Smart Technology. It was first launched in Nanaimo in May 2018, followed by deployment in the Comox Valley, Whistler, Squamish, Kamloops and Kelowna later last year.
Benefits to bus operators and the operations team include communicating more effectively through a modular display unit about things like road detours and accidents for faster relay of that sort of information back to customers.
Automatic passenger counters will identify where and when people are getting on and off the buses. This data can be used to better manage the routes including which buses and how many to deploy.
NextRide is the foundation for future development for BC Transit. They are already focusing on modernizing the fare technology platform so that payment can be made electronically.