Four-hundred CTA bus shelters will feature displays showing arrival times by fall 2012. The shelters will also have audible announcements of arrival times. (Credit: CBS)
Reporting John Cody
Don't Miss This
CHICAGO (WBBM) – City officials on Friday showed off the first of 400 CTA bus stops that will have LED bus tracker displays to ease the frustration of waiting for the next stop.
As WBBM’s John Cody reports, four lines of LED lights on the top side of each shelter will show riders when the next bus will arrive, according to GPS systems in each bus. The shelters will also have audible announcements of how long the wait is for the next bus.
“So commuters know, rather than standing in the middle of the street, craning their neck to look down and try to figure out are those lights a bus?” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said at a press conference at the first shelter to get the signage, at 51st Street and Lake Park Avenue.
LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s John Cody reports
CTA President Forrest Claypool said the first 150 signs will be installed on bus shelters by next March. The remaining 250 will be installed by next September.
Ald. Will Burns (4th) said the signs ease the frustration of waiting for the next bus.
“You know, you just don’t know when it’s coming and so it’s important so that people know when the buses are coming and so that you can run inside shelter, because, you know, we don’t have the best weather here in Chicago in the wintertime,” Burns said.
The $3.8 million program is being funded through $1.4 million of CTA funds, a $1.8 million Regional Transportation Authority grant and a $640,000 Federal Transit Authority grant.
CTA riders can already use the system’s “Bus Tracker” website to keep track of buses on all CTA routes. All CTA bus stops also feature a code number that you can use to send a text message to the CTA to find out when the next bus should arrive.
