As someone who lives in Pape Village, I constantly face a guessing game. Two buses head north, and both routes
81 and
25 follow the same route for 1.5 km. When you board at Pape station, which do you take? If both are waiting, it's an act of faith. When you ask the driver, you often get a shrug. With few exceptions, the bus that leaves first is the one I didn't pick.
As a TV producer
pointed out last week, commuters face the same "guessing game" at Broadview station. With two loading docks for streetcars heading south, you can never be sure which leaves first.
 |
| TTC photo |
The TTC's
Next Vehicle Arrival System uses GPS data and presents commuters with the next coming vehicle, through text messages for streetcar stops and LCD screens at some stations (some are even solar-powered). The data's available to
app developers, who have combined smartphones' GPS capabilities to let commuters make the most efficient choices.
The LCD screen at Broadview is really helpful for knowing when your bus is coming, but it would be helpful if it also said which streetcar leaves first. Same for the buses at Pape station.
That being said, the TTC has achieved much through the NVAS project, which started as a pilot project for streetcars leaving Spadina station. I hope it expands with time.
No comments:
Post a Comment