Technology to help riders know when their lift will arrive

Aquick phone call, text or Internet search will soon allow bus riders in Iowa City and Coralville to keep from standing in rapidly decreasing temperatures for longer than necessary.

Thanks to a new interactive system that will officially launch next week, bus riders will be able to receive real-time updates as to where a specific bus is located and how long it will take to reach a certain stop.

The system, called Bus on the Go or BONGO, will be available through the University of Iowa Cambus system and transit systems in Iowa City and Coralville. It is scheduled to officially launch Tuesday.

Romy Bolton, the project leader in the Campus Technology Services department at UI Information Technology Services, said each of the bus agencies have had a system like BONGO on their wish list for quite some time.

While talking to representatives from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bolton was introduced to a company called NextBus Inc.

“We had been pursuing a system like this and while talking to other institutions we found they were using these bus products,” Bolton said. “The system was the number one hit on their mobile sites so we approached Cambus and they took an interest.”

Bolton said it was important to find a system that could provide all or most of the intangibles the bus companies were seeking.

In the new system, a GPS tracking device will be placed in every bus. The device will send out a signal every 10 seconds, updating the latitude and longitude of the bus during its route. With that information, users will be provided with a predicted arrival time for each stop. Each bus also will provide wireless Internet service.

Bolton said the most important factor in choosing NextBus was that it could provide users with up-to-date information through multiple mediums.

“The benefit is not just for people who own smart phones,” she said. “There is a phone number people can call, a website, and a texting service. We didn't want technology to be an inhibitor to anyone.”

According to Ryan Ward, the transit programs administrator for the Iowa Department of Transportation, the three companies will be the first in the state to use technology allowing the public to follow bus routes.

“There are other cities who have GPS tracking on their vehicles, but it is solely for management purposes and not available to the public,” Ward said.

Ward added that UI Cambus, Iowa City and Coralville together transport the largest number of bus riders in the state.

UI senior Samantha Bill said she was not yet aware of the new system but believes it will be popular among students, especially as the temperatures drop.

"When it starts to snow a lot and the roads get icy, the buses seem to always be behind schedule. It's almost impossible to predict when a bus will come,” Bill said. “If this thing works and people don't have to stand out in the cold forever, people will love it.”

The new system also will function as a tool for transit management and bus dispatchers to monitor each vehicle. Engine diagnostics will provide companies with information to identify maintenance issues before they get too serious.

Vicky Robrock, director of parking and transportation for the city of Coralville, said the new system is a great management tool.

“It allows us to gather information that we would not have gotten otherwise,” Robrock said. “We will have real-time information on specific locations and how efficiently we are operating. It is a great tool to plan for the future.”

Initial costs for the project for the UI Cambus system is $125,000, plus $50,000 annually. Iowa City will pay $120,000 upfront and $35,000 annually. Coralville will initially pay a $52,000 fee and $13,000 annually. The system will be free for all users.

Though the official launch for the system is not until Tuesday, it is already up and running so the bus companies can receive initial feedback, Bolton said. The UI sent out an official release about the project on Monday to inform the public.

Bolton said after the news was released, there were 1,000 unique visitors to the website after the first 24 hours. Of the 1,000 unique visitors, there were 15,000 page views, meaning people were not just visiting the site, but exploring it to check routes as well.