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Exactly when is my next bus departing?

Metro Transit tests web tool with real-time schedule information

The end of the workday is near, but you need to finish one more project before you head to your transit stop.

Sending that last-minute e-mail might mean you’ll miss the bus you usually take home. How much time do you really have before the bus leaves your stop?

Metro Transit is testing an online tool called NexTrip that takes the guesswork out of questions like that. Launched on metrotransit.org in April, NexTrip allows customers to get real-time information about bus departures.

“By using technology, we can provide more amenities like NexTrip to our customers and get information to them faster,” said Metro Transit General Manager Brian Lamb. “NexTrip is an important tool for our customer-service efforts.”

How NexTrip works

Customers can access NexTrip by clicking on the tab next to the Quick Trip Planner on Metro Transit’s home page. To get real-time information, customers select their route, the direction they are traveling and their closest transit stop. If there is a trip leaving that stop in the next 20 minutes, NexTrip shows the departure times. It also shows scheduled departure times for trips beyond the 20-minute real-time window.

The real-time information is generated from an automatic vehicle location (AVL) bus-tracking system, installed on all Metro Transit buses. The AVL system uses global positioning satellites to monitor the location of buses as they travel through the system, sending location updates every 60 seconds by wireless technology to a central database. NexTrip accesses this database and compares schedule information with the vehicle’s predicted travel time to determine real-time information for customers.

At this time, NexTrip includes only Metro Transit routes. Once all regional transit providers have bus-tracking technology, customers can check online for departure times for those routes as well.

This real-time technology is being used in other ways to enhance the riding experience for customers. NexTrip digital displays with real-time information are located at Uptown Transit Center and the park-and-ride facilities at I-394 and County Road 73 and at Bottineau Boulevard and 63rd Avenue.

What’s ahead

Metro Transit is asking customers to send feedback during NexTrip’s testing phase. A final version of NexTrip is expected to be launched this summer. After the test period is over, NexTrip will include schedule information for regional transit providers.

When that version is available, the agency expects that NexTrip will be accessible through hand-held devices. By summer, NexTrip information will also be available on TransitLine, the agency’s automated schedule information phone line.