More information about the next bus at a particular stop, or exactly where a bus is, will be available in October through upgrades to 59 RDN buses. (File Photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

TRANSIT MAPPING

NextRide upgrade coming to Nanaimo & Oceanside bus network

Sep 26, 2023 | 9:57 AM

NANAIMO — Beginning next month, riders waiting for and riding on the mid-Island’s public transit system will have a lot more information about their trip.

Fifty-nine Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) buses will be outfitted with new automatic vehicle location hardware which will pinpoint the location of a bus for riders awaiting pickup, as well as give those on board better information about upcoming stops and service alerts.

Information from the upgrade to the NextRide system will be available through the RDN Transit website, on the Transit App available for Apple and Android, Google Maps, and various trip planning applications. It’ll also get displayed on television screens on board.

“…which gives [passengers] three stops ahead and provides them a lot more information,” Jeff Kendrew, project manager with BC Transit told NanaimoNewsNOW. “There’s even a progress bar between stops, when a stop request has been pulled or a button pushed on the bus they can actually see that on which stop is upcoming.”

Rollout of the new system will begin Tuesday, Oct. 3 with BC Transit advising of some potential real-time data outages through Oct. 19.

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Schedules throughout the upgrade will remain unchanged and as published.

Once complete, Kendrew said a more reliable, robust system capable of growth in the years to come will materialize.

He highlighted transit schedule and update screens at community centres or transit exchanges as possibilities, in addition to the extra information riders can get on their mobile devices while waiting.

“If you’re at a stop, you’ll be able to see your bus, a real time prediction of when that bus will arrive. It’ll also give you updates on if there’s a stop closure, it’ll suggest you actually walk to the next stop and it’ll give you information about it.”

Upgrades to the RDN system mirror those already done in the Comox Valley and Whistler-Squamish public transit systems.

Funding for the upgrade was a result of a cost partnership between the federal (50 per cent) and provincial (40 per cent) governments, along with the RDN and other local entities (10 per cent).

Kendrew said they’re very aware of riding a fine line between advancing technologically and ensuring some users such as seniors who may struggle with cell phones or computers aren’t left behind.

BC Transit’s alert system will remain unchanged, as will publishing of printed schedules albeit without any changes, cancellations or immediate updates.

The addition comes weeks before a planned rollout of Umo, an electronic fare-paying system which is hoped to remove the need for paper tickets on the RDN network.

BC Transit is holding information sessions on the technology in early October with a planned rollout this fall.

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