Cedar Rapids buses to have smartphone app, free Wi-Fi

CEDAR RAPIDS - Cedar Rapids hopes to launch its new app for tracking city buses in late summer or early fall, and Wi-Fi access on all city buses before the end of the year.

No specific date set for their debuts.

The smartphone app project, which was announced this past November, will allow riders to track buses in real time and obtain more estimates of when buses will arrive at their stops.

Brad DeBrower, Cedar Rapids transit manager, said Cedar Rapids is in the process of checking its bus stops for accuracy with the app and updating all the signs with numbers for riders to text to find out when the next bus will arrive.

The project was created with the intent of increasing customer convenience, DeBrower said.

He added that the GPS bus tracking app will help people figure out were all the buses are so the vehicles can 'hopefully be a more reliable service to people,” especially during bad weather.

DeBrower said Cedar Rapids looked at other cities with Wi-Fi on buses, such as in Iowa City, Coralville and the University of Iowa before deciding to go ahead with the project.

The Wi-Fi 'should end up being the same type of access as if you were in the city's public facilities,” DeBrower said.

Now that it is providing Wi-Fi access on its buses, Cedar Rapids may be part of a trend. In 2013, just 4 percent of buses had Wi-Fi but that was up from half a percent in 2008, according to the American Public Transit Association.