CT Transit Buses Will Soon Have GPS, Electronic Fare Systems

CT Transit buses throughout the state will soon be equipped with GPS devices, providing real-time bus location information to riders via smartphone.

Governor Dannel Malloy announced the launch of the new amenity Wednesday, saying that 500 buses in the system will soon be fitted with the new technology. Riders will be able to use smartphone tools like Transit App to get the up-to-the-minute location of a bus.

CTfastrak buses already have similar technology, which riders have hailed as “very helpful” in their daily commute.

“This is a smart, strategic step in continuing the modernization of our infrastructure to move us towards a new era in economic growth that will support Connecticut families and businesses and create a best-in-class transportation system,” Malloy said. 

CT Transit assistant planning and marketing manager Phillip Fry told WNPR in an interview earlier this month that the bus GPS system is the “holy grail” of public transportation.

“Right now, we say the bus is going to be here at such and such time -- but if it’s delayed, we don’t know that, and you’re standing at a bus stop in the snow, the cold, the rain, really fuming. But if you know it’s delayed, and you know it’s not going to be here for another ten, 15 minutes, you can wait in your house; you can wait at the coffee shop; you can wait in your office before going to the bus stop,” Fry said.

CT Transit, the state DOT-owned bus service, currently provides up to 42 million passenger trips a year. According to Malloy, the new GPS system will be funded by a $7 million allocation approved last month by the State Bond Commission.

Fry said CT Transit will continue to improve user-friendliness on buses by installing electronic fare boxes that will allow passengers to use an account-based smart-card similar to E-ZPass to pay their bus fare. The system will allow riders to automatically renew and maintain a balance, drawing from a credit card or a banking account.

“That will be much easier from riders, and we’ll be able to have much better data on where people get on and off the bus. When it’s paired with the GPS units, we’ll be able to see what are the busy bus stops, what are the not-so-busy and it will help us in our planning in tweaking of our current bus services,” Fry said.

The GPS technology will be made available by the end of the year, Fry said, and the new electronic fare system will be introduced over the next six months.