Real-time bus location technology coming to Kamloops this fall

Apr 23, 2018 | 1:40 PM

KAMLOOPS — Taking public transit is about to become a whole lot more convenient in Kamloops.

As CFJC Today reported last summer, Kamloops has been chosen by BC Transit as one of seven communities in the province to benefit from its NextRide real-time bus location technology. 

On Monday, BC Transit confirmed the technology will be rolled out in Kamloops this fall.

NextRide uses Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) to provide customers with real-time data on the locations of their bus and their predicted arrival times at a stop. With the introduction of this new technology comes a responsive website, enabling passengers to plan their trips from their smartphone or desktop.

While on board the bus, passengers will now be able to see and hear upcoming stop information as they approach the next stop.

Along with Kamloops, other communities taking part are Nanaimo, Comox Valley, Squamish, Whistler, Kelowna and Victoria.

BC Transit says the technology will also allow it and its partners to better direct buses for schedule reliability and to more easily push alerts out to customers in the case of detours, accidents or other events that may delay regular routing.

Funding for this project comes from the Public Transit Infrastructure Fund, which was announced in June 2016 by the federal and provincial governments.