Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 22, 2008
METRO TRANSIT LAUNCHES 'NEXTRIP' CUSTOMER INFORMATION TOOL
MINNEAPOLIS – (July 22) –Transit customers in the Twin Cities now can use NexTrip, a new tool launched by Metro Transit today, to check departure times of buses – down to the minute.
NexTrip provides real-time departure and schedule information to customers through Metro Transit’s website (metrotransit.org), by phone (612-373-3333) or at select transit stops in the Twin Cities. Customers also can access NexTrip with handheld devices like Blackberries.
Metro Transit General Manager Brian Lamb today demonstrated the new technology at the Commuter Connection resource store in downtown Minneapolis.
“NexTrip is an important enhancement to our customer service efforts,” said Lamb. “By leveraging technology we already have in place, we can provide amenities like NexTrip to give our customers even greater confidence in the reliability of their service.”
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 departure information, customers select their route, the direction they are traveling and their closest transit stop. If a trip is leaving that stop in the next 20 minutes, NexTrip shows the departure times. It also shows schedules for trips leaving beyond the 20-minute window.
Real-time information is generated from an automatic vehicle location (AVL) bus-tracking system. AVL systems use global positioning satellites to monitor the location of buses as they travel Twin Cities streets, 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.
Metro Transit began testing the online version of NexTrip in April, inviting early adopters to use the feature and provide feedback.
The real-time technology is used in other ways to get real-time and schedule information to customers. Customers can call 612-373-3333 to access real-time information by phone. The phone system has voice recognition, so customers can say selected commands rather than pressing buttons on a touch-tone phone.
NexTrip signs are available at Uptown Transit Center and at the park-and-ride lot at I-394 and County Road 73. More signs are planned as part of the Urban Partnership Agreement project that will help relieve congestion in and along the I-35W and Cedar Avenue corridors.
Metro Transit is a service of the Metropolitan Council. Customers boarded its buses and trains 77 million times in 2007, the highest annual ridership in 25 years.
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(Editors: For information call Bob Gibbons, director of customer services, 612-349-7509 or via e-mail at robert.gibbons@metc.state.mn.us)
