Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building

Last week, Michael Smith, CTO of the Webtech Wireless NextBus division attended an invitation-only meeting with the US Chief Technology Officer, Aneesh Chopra and Deputy Secretary, John Porcari. NextBus is the #1 provider of public real-time transit information in North America. Using information from transit agencies like Los Angeles, Boston, Toronto, and New York, Michael and the team at NextBus created the best real-time passenger information system in North America. Their leadership is why they were at the White House Executive Office Building meeting with US thought leaders on public access to real-time transit information.

In addition to vendors like NextBus, there was representation from the Association of Public Transit Agencies, Open Plans, and Google. The focus of the meeting was how to make more real-time transit information publicly available. For example, some GPS vendors require transit agencies to sign exclusive contracts that preclude them from sharing the GPS information with the public.

Aneesh Chopra reminded participants that the Obama Administration’s Open Gov initiative suggests that, “Openness empowers people with information to make decisions”. This has proven the case with examples such as JP Lick’s Ice Cream Store in Boston, which uses NextBus information to provide customers with real-time arrival information. Store patrons can enjoy their ice cream while an illuminated sign in the store  scrolls through the times of the next two buses on Route 39, which passes their store (full story here).

NextBus has shown the way in providing openly accessible data feeds. The White House wants to see more leadership like this in real-time transit information systems.

In our July 21st, 2011 blog post (which coincided with the inauguration of Saint John Transit’s implementation of NextBus), I described the innovation, the need, and the application of Nextbus. Since then, this helpful YouTube video has appeared (courtesy of The City of Saint John, NB) describing how to use Nextbus for finding your next bus when in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.

While the Nextbus AVL system is so easy and intuitive to use it hardly needs directions, this video can be helpful if you’re not familiar with computer-based solutions or you would like an overview of how NextBus works from the client end.

Saint John Transit bus on King Street soon to be equipped with NextBus AVL solution

Back in February 2010, Webtech Wireless expanded its InterFleet® implementation with the city of Saint John, New Brunswick to include an additional 100 public works and police vehicles—a contract valued at over $100,000. Now to complement the city’s Interfleet solution, Saint John Transit also plans to deploy a Webtech Wireless solution—NextBus.

NextBus will provide Saint John Transit with an AVL tracking solution for its 60 buses, allowing riders to check bus arrivals in real-time. Using PCs, landline phones, cell phones, or SMS text messaging, riders get real-time travel information (each bus is fitted with a satellite tracking system) designed to help them decide whether catching the next bus is a sprint or leisurely stroll. Currently, riders can only view a static schedule of intended bus arrivals and departures on the company’s web site.

NextBus will also install five LCD screens at various locations around the city, including McAllister Place Mall and the university campus (UNBSJ) and LED screens at bus stops. To help make public transport more attractive to potential riders (and as a nod to Saint John Transit’s already existing environmental initiatives), the service will add to the city’s existing hot spots with free WIFI for riders on all its buses.

About NextBus

A subsidiary of Webtech Wireless, San Francisco-based NextBus implements real-time passenger information systems used by dozens of transit agencies, universities and other transit operators across North America. Because traffic variations, breakdowns, and day-to-day problems faced by any transit provider can interrupt service, NextBus was designed to help keep riders on schedule even if their buses aren’t. NextBus uses satellite technology and advanced computer modeling to track vehicles on their routes.

About Saint John

Historic Saint John has been a transportation hub since long before confederation

As Canada’s oldest incorporated city and New Brunswick’s largest municipality, the city of Saint John has been providing municipal services for more than two centuries. According to Statistics Canada, the Saint John municipal area has a population of 122,389, with a population density of 36.4 persons per square kilometre.

The Port of Saint John is one of Canada’s most important ports (its relatively mild maritime climate keeps its deep-water harbour ice-free year round when inland ports in the St. Lawrence Seaway must contend with ice). This keeps the city’s businesses and industries bustling throughout the year. In 2010 for the first time ever, the Port of Saint John exceeded 30 million metric tonnes of cargo in a single year.

About Saint John Transit

Saint John Transit was established in 1979 to provide scheduled transit service to the city. It replaced City Transit Limited (1948-1979) and a string of others dating back to the People’s Street Railway Company (1869-1876). Saint John Transit is the largest public transit system in the province, both by mileage and passengers.

Saint John Transit bus now equipped with NextBus wireless AVL solution

Saint John Transit Statistics

Saint John Transit’s ridership is approximately 50 percent higher than the average for Canadian cities with a population of between 50,000 and 150,000.

• Number of vehicles: 60
• Ridership: 2.5 million riders per year

Current active fleet bus types:

• GMDD/MCI/Nova Bus Classic
• Nova Bus LFS Artic (Ex. NovaBUS demo 40881 and 40882)
• Nova Bus RTS
• Orion VII and Orion VII “Next Generation”

Greening Saint John

Source: Statistics Canada, 2006 Census of Population.

To reduce auto emissions, the City of Saint John, along with the Federal and Provincial governments, is investing in public transportation between uptown Saint John and outlying communities. Branded as ComeX (Community Express), it provides a rapid bus transport service during peak commuting times. With the implementation of ComeX, greenhouse gas emissions are projected to drop by 1,500 metric tonnes and downtown traffic will decrease by 800 vehicles a day over the next five years.

Additional reading:

• City of Saint John
• City of Saint John Transit Strategic Plan
• Saint John Transit on Wikipedia
• Saint John Transit site

Webtech Wireless’ NextBus solution is now the transit technology that municipalities (from Montreal’s Société de transport de Laval to the Los Angeles Metro) rely on to provide accurate real-time public transportation information to millions of riders. Like other AVL solutions, NextBus uses global positioning system (GPS) tracking satellites to display transit vehicle locations in real-time. So what makes Nextbus’ particular solution so helpful?

Tackling the Problem

There is something of a perfect storm closing in on public transit systems these days. Rising fuel costs are driving many commuters to use public transit as their primary method of transportation, and with traffic variations, breakdowns, and other day-to-day problems leaving riders waiting at bus stops and train platforms, they’re increasingly turning to instant wireless communications (such as cellphones, PDAs, text messaging, etc.), to manage their lives. These riders rely on and expect reliable location-based services.

“The need for a predictive transit solution became apparent as a means to encourage ridership and streamline bus routing.”

Designing the Solution

To address these problems, NextBus was designed to “keep your customers on schedule even if their bus isn’t”. Using GPS tracking, NextBus estimates vehicle location information with a high degree of accuracy. Using PCs, landline phones, cell phones, or SMS (Text) messaging, riders get real-time travel information, which helps them decide whether catching the next bus is a sprint or leisurely stroll.

Viewed through a web browser, NextBus uses Google maps to show highly accurate route maps

“NextBus helps riders make the best use of public and university transit.”

From the standpoint of transit authorities, deploying a transit AVL solution helps transit companies improve customer service, reduce accidents, reduce fuel and labor costs, improve operator performance, and improve street-level visibility for transit supervisors and planners.

In the New York Times writer, Joshua Brustein praises the recent deployment of NextBus to the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “Los Angeles began using NextBus for its entire bus system in May, the largest transit agency to do so.” Or, according to the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority itself, the NextBus solution is “designed to help take the guesswork out of bus arrival and help you to get to your stop at the same time as your bus”.

Using NextBus on Your Smartphone

Just as the adoption of the cell phone became universal a decade and a half ago, the smartphone is now a ubiquitous part of life for most urbanites. According to New York Times writer, Damon Darlin, “historians will remember the advent of the smartphone as something as important as the elevator, air conditioner and automobile.”

The implication for transit companies is clear: adopt an AVL solution or face irritation and disinterest from your ridership. Fortunately, transit authorities are reading the writing on the wall and many of them are choosing NextBus—for its reliability and simplicity.

“NextBus, a wonderful Web site that monitors the arrival of city buses in many big cities, is a godsend.”

While there is no official phone application for Nextbus, the simplicity of the NextBus website makes it easy to use on most smartphones.

NextBus viewed on an iPhone

To access NextBus using a smartphone:

1. Using your smartphone’s web browser (such as Safari), access the NextBus website: www.nextbus.com.
2. Choose the mobile version or the full-featured website.
3. Select your location, your transit agency, your route, and then your stop.
   The most current prediction for the arrival time of the next vehicle is displayed.
4. You also can add your stop info to your home screen so it will be instantly available.
5. If a prediction is already displayed on your smartphone, simply push the ‘refresh’ link at the bottom of the page to get the most up to date information.

Webtech Wireless announces the launch of its new corporate identity, unveiled last week to employees worldwide, and being rolled-out across all of the Company’s operations over the coming months. The new identity will be applied to all marketing and communications materials, including the launch of a new website slated for early next month.

The new identity organizes and rationalizes the Company’s brands under a single corporate (umbrella) brand, with its three distinct product brands. Each is based on a common visual platform of icons, typefaces and colours, effectively creating a unified brand family.

“The idea of rebranding Webtech Wireless was first raised following the acquisition of Grey Island and its InterFleet® and NextBus® brands. It was clear that we were transitioning from a single solution company (Quadrant®) to one that could offer a comprehensive set of tightly integrated business solutions to an ever increasing variety of customers,” said Scott Edmonds, Webtech Wireless’ President and Chief Executive Officer. Adding, “The new brand identity is a logical step that communicates, to all stakeholders, that we continue to provide very specialized products and services, and that these are strengthened even more as an integral part of the new Webtech Wireless brand family.”

Introduction of new brand identity brings together the Company’s three product brands under one corporate umbrella brand

The new Webtech Wireless logo icon, a “W” constructed of three stylized arrows, will be used for the Corporate, InterFleet and Quadrant brands. Its design subtly conveys both corporate and product brand attributes: precise, efficient, direct, purposeful, fast and focused. The NextBus brand, a leading brand in the transit sector with a significant end-user audience, will sport its own icon—an “N” constructed of two stylized arrows in motion – that additionally conveys a dynamic, friendly brand personality to resonate with transit authorities and transit users. Both icons were designed to work well in web and mobile applications, where their use has superseded more traditional communications mediums.

With the launch, the Company will also reinvigorate its “Telematics for the Planet®” tag line, by applying it to all of its activities. Telematics for the Planet represents a multifaceted commitment to develop cost effective, location-based technologies that benefit our environment by reducing vehicle use and resultant CO2 and pollutant generation, as well as making reference to the Company’s global presence.

The new branding platform also sees the introduction of terminology that groups the Company’s various products into subgroups—MANAGER, LOCATOR, IN-CAB, etc.—thereby presenting a more cohesive and comprehensive solution to the marketplace. The platform also has the flexibility to incorporate additional brands in the future.

Webtech Wireless’ new identity not only encompasses the values of the Webtech Wireless brand and its products, but will also help it stand out against its competitors in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

As is customary this time of year, we’re all bracing ourselves for the onslaught of Best Lists – that recently minted tradition of distilling the year’s events down to, typically, ten items that impacted life on this planet in some way during the last 12 months.

So we were thrilled today to see that Directions Magazine, the first and largest regularly published online magazine covering geospatial technology, chose our NextBus® real-time passenger information services (RTPIS) mobile app as one of the ten best events, ideas, themes, products, etc. of 2010. They, as well as the many, many thousands of NextBus users across North America, are clearly impressed with the power NextBus has to change the way people interact with transit and go about their daily lives. 

Directions Magazine’s Top Ten isn’t ranked, but we’re very pleased to see NextBus mentioned first. We’ve reproduced that item below, and you can see all ten by going to the story on Directions Magazine.

1. The Geospatial App that Changed My Life
I looked over the New York Times’ “ten must have Android apps list” the other day. I was not impressed. It included things like: Google Shopper, Google Sky Map, Soundhound… toys! Honestly, if the best we can do in the huge world of mobile is offer apps that turn your phone into a wireless trackpad/mouse, mobile hasn’t made it quite yet in my book. The real apps which I believe can be useful for work numbered two: Evernote and QuickOffice.
 
But then there’s NextBus. Not one, but two different people in my life have told me with a totally straight face that this website, about which I had told them, has “changed their lives.” I don’t mean to push NextBus over the other apps that serve up real-time bus info for those of us in the Hub of the Universe, Boston; it’s just the one my friends and I use. I want to identify it as representative of that group of apps. Here in Boston we got most of our buses feeding out real-time data in late summer, and the whole line was covered by September. Then, the bus takers of Boston, the good friends of Charlie (who graces our Charlie Cards), all began to smile as app developers put those data into useable form. Now that it’s 17 degrees outside, we smile more as we walk determinedly from the library or work or the bar just in time to catch the bus. Life is good.

The riders of New York City’s Downtown Connection – a free local bus service available to Lower Manhattan’s 300,000 workers, 55,000 residents and six million annual visitors - are now benefitting from the implementation of WebTech Wireless’ NextBus real-time passenger information services (RTPIS).

Bus stop digital informational signs displaying predicted bus arrival times are dotted throughout the area, and users can also obtain arrival information from the www.nextbus.com and downtownny.interfleet.com websites, allowing them to move about one of the most congested parts of New York more efficiently and enjoyably.

NextBus is also being used by two other local New York City agencies: The New York Water Taxi’s East River Commuter, and the Roosevelt Island Red Bus Service.

The following article appeared in New York’s Downtown Alliance online news on Sep 23rd, 2010, and provides a great overview of the many benefits NextBus is providing Downtown Connection users.

Riders of the Downtown Connection—the Alliance for Downtown New York’s free bus service in Lower Manhattan—will now know exactly when the next bus will arrive. The Business Improvement District has installed seven LED signs, which list the next two arrivals, along the 37-stop route.

The NextBus program uses Global Positioning System tracking satellites to provide accurate vehicle arrival/departure information and real-time data to passengers waiting at selected Downtown Connection stops.

Funding for the program was secured by New York State Senator Daniel Squadron and established in coordination with the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT). Thanks to a grant from Goldman Sachs, two additional signs will be installed in Battery Park City in the coming months.

“Lower Manhattan is the center of a vast, multi-modal regional transit network. Our Downtown Connection extends that reach, making it easier for Lower Manhattan’s 300,000 workers, 55,000 residents and six millions annual visitors to get around,” said Elizabeth H. Berger, President of the Downtown Alliance. “Starting today, GPS technology meets service in Lower Manhattan. Thanks to Senator Squadron and Goldman Sachs, our nearly 900,000 annual riders will know, with certainty, when the next bus is coming.”

“NextBus signs will make a great service—free buses for the Lower Manhattan community—even better,” Senator Squadron said. “Now, bus riders can spend less time waiting for a bus, and more time enjoying the shops, restaurants, cultural institutions and more in this wonderful neighborhood. I am pleased to have supported this program, and I thank the Downtown Alliance and the DOT for their work in making it happen.”

“The Downtown Connection is a valuable free transportation alternative for the residents and employees of the Battery Park City area,” said Battery Park City Authority Chairman William C. Thompson, Jr. “I want to thank Senator Squadron, the DOT and the Downtown Alliance for improving upon this very popular service by installing these NextBus signs so riders can have up-to-the-minute information about arrival times. It is this type of planning and initiative that has helped turn Lower Manhattan into a vibrant, successful community.”

“NextBus uses the latest technology to provide riders with the convenience they need in their busy lives, and will allow residents, workers and tourists alike to spend more time in the shops, restaurants and parks that make Lower Manhattan one of the best places to live, work and visit,” said Community Board 1 Chair Julie Menin.

“As a long-standing member of the Lower Manhattan community, Goldman Sachs is pleased to support the Downtown Alliance and its efforts to provide great services to our neighborhood,” said Timur Galen, a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and also board member of the Downtown Alliance.

The Downtown Alliance piloted the service two years ago at two of the Downtown Connection’s 37 stops in Lower Manhattan. Thanks to funding secured by Senator Squadron, the Alliance has posted new LED signs at five new spots, bringing the total number of signs to seven. An eighth is awaiting the removal of scaffolding from a stop. The signs are on Water, Warren, Washington, Greenwich and Pine streets, and at 4 New York Plaza.

A grant from Goldman Sachs will technically equip two additional stops in Battery Park City. Those signs will be installed in the coming months on Vesey Street.

The Downtown Alliance launched the Downtown Connection in late 2003, instantly improving Lower Manhattan’s quality of life and accessibility. The buses shuttled more than 834,000 workers, residents and visitors in 2009, and the Downtown Alliance expects ridership to increase this year. The shuttle buses run at 10-minute intervals from 10 AM to 8 PM daily, with more limited service on weekends.

Last year, the ADA-accessible service was expanded to offer direct access to the World Financial Center and Battery Park City, the 1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6, A, C, E, R, J and Z subway lines and retailers on Warren and Murray streets.

In addition to broadcasting messages about arrival times, the NextBus signs also can be used to transmit emergency public service messages. You can learn more about NextBus—already offered in Boston, Montreal, Washington, D.C. and at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J—at www.nextbus.com.

“We are pleased to work with the Alliance for Downtown New York to bring this passenger enhancement to Lower Manhattan and showcase our proven technology,” said Owen Moore, President of Nextbus, Inc.

Passengers can also check on the buses before they even step outside. In 2004 the Downtown Alliance introduced a Web page— http://downtownny.interfleet.com —that allows them to pinpoint the exact location of buses throughout the day from the comfort of their offices and homes.

A Laval, Quebec transit user recently sent us some pictures of the city’s latest campaign to promote its STL Synchro real-time passenger information service (RTPIS), which uses WebTech Wireless’ NextBus technology. The Société de Transport de Laval (STL) has been a leader in the implementation of innovative, user-focused transit technology, and has supported it with ongoing public relations efforts.  

With 80 transit stop digital information signs installed, and schedule information for most routes available via smartphone and the internet, STL Synchro is currently the largest deployment of NextBus in Canada. Other cities include Toronto (TTC), Thunder Bay, Guelph and Banff.

“STL Synchro… Because your time counts”

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has begun providing NextBus predictive scheduling information for its “T” bus riders. The full Boston Globe online story can be read here.

WebTech Wireless attended the American Public Works Association’s annual Congress & Exposition, held in Boston, Mass., August 15-18. A great turnout and a great opportunity to connect with representatives from municipalities from across North America. Many thanks to our customers who dropped by our stand to see us, and also to those public works professionals looking for an AVL/GPS solution for their fleets that took time to chat with our team. Hope to see you all again next year in Denver.