The Chair of the Toronto Transit Commission, Councillor Adam Giambrone, officially launched the TTC’s new “next vehicle” display signage at Spadina Station this morning.
The signs harness information from the GPS (global positioning system) in transit vehicles to help passengers learn when the next vehicle on a particular route will arrive at their stop. They also display the location of each vehicle serving the route. The TTC will equip all streetcars in its fleet with GPS technology by the end of 2008. It will start equipping its buses with similar technology during 2009.
As a pilot for a more extensive signage project, the signs currently only display information about the 510 Spadina streetcar route. Signs appear at both Union and Spadina Stations.
By 2010, the TTC hopes to have expanded its system of providing real-time information to passengers. It will install similar signs in subway stations and about 350 transit shelters on streets to let riders know how long they have to wait for the next transit vehicle. Passengers will also be able to receive text messages on their cell phones about when the next bus or streetcar will arrive at their stop.
For more details, read Transit Toronto’s December 12 post. You can also read this article from Blog TO, this article from Torontoist or this article from spacingtoronto. The Toronto Star covers the story here.