The Edmonton Transit System has launched a new pilot project that will allow riders to send a text from their mobile phone, and receive information about bus and LRT schedules back seconds later.
The pilot project has been in place for about a month, and ETS says it has been a success.
“ETS is always looking to add value and offer new creative ways to get information to our riders,” says Nathan Walters, Strategic Marketing Supervisor with ETS. “A lot of our riders are already using text messaging on a regular basis so having our bus schedules available by text is a natural fit.”
The text message service is simple. Text your bus stop number to 31100 and you get the next six scheduled busses arriving there. If you want an exact route, you text the bus stop number, space, then bus route number. You can also customize the service online for your favourite routes. It’s all aimed at convenience for commuters.
The service is completely free from the city, you will only charged whatever texting costs are on your cell phone plan.
The pilot project will run from one to three years, depending on the success of the first year.
It’s expected that millions of texts for the service will occur in 2011.
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