WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — Transit leaders in the City of Wausau are exploring ways to integrate today’s technology into their system to improve the user experience.
MetroRide Director Greg Seubert says among those are two items that would allow the public to plan and track buses. One would integrate Google maps to allow users to plan their routes and another that could provide real-time bus tracking.
“All of your information is available on the map. It helps you plot how do I get from here to there using our information,” said Seubert.
The other technology provides automatic vehicle location, which Seubert says is relatively new. “If you provide the user with a downloadable map, they can see where the buses are in real time.”
Seubert adds that the technologies would be a means of making the service marketable to the tech-savvy generation by meeting them where they are at on their devices. Additionally, the prices have come down to a point where some of the hardware is now attainable for the city.
“Technologies now are integrating with each other. You can acquire one technology that will work with another so you can grow your technical capabilities a bit at a time. In the past you really couldn’t do that,” he said.
Because the city is already using some of Google’s platforms, gathering route data and maintaining it on Google maps would be relatively inexpensive according to Seubert. The cost of an app that could allow for real-time bus tracking has also come down thanks to new hardware. “We will take a look, we will do some costing and see what’s out there, and then we will go from there.”
During Thursday’s meeting, Seubert also discussed other equipment that could be used by MetroRide staff to track passenger counts and fares. That included integration with the city’s soon to be released parking app, however, the monthly cost of that would be nearly equal to the system’s monthly fares.
No action was taken as a result of Thursday’s meeting. Seubert and his staff will come back to the committee in the near future with a ranked list of the items for further discussion about when they could be implemented.
