GPS technology set to speed up bus ride

AUSTIN (KXAN) - A new bus line coming to Austin will send signals to stop lights and get riders through intersections faster, according to Capital Metro.

It will be called MetroRapid, and will connect to MetroBus and MetroRail service. The public transportation authority received a $38 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration to get it up and running along two routes. Capital Metro is contributing another $9 million to make it happen.

Route No. 1 will cover south Congress Avenue from Slaughter Lane all the way up to the Capitol, and then continues on through the University of Texas campus and up north Lamar Boulevard  to the Tech Ridge Park and Ride. Route No. 2 will run from south Lamar Boulevard to the North Austin Medical Center on Burnet Road.

A presentation at a Capital Metro Board meeting Monday showed limited stops along the route. Faster commutes and increased ridership are the main goals. New technology on board is also supposed to shave trip times by 20 percent.

"In very simple terms, a GPS signal will alert the traffic light that the bus is approaching a signal light," said Capital Metro CEO Linda Watson. "It will change to let the traffic moving in that direction move through first."

According to Capital Metro, commutes are already getting faster along south Congress Avenue after they recently eliminated four stops along the main downtown thoroughfare. The move was also made to cut down on traffic accidents. Watson said crash numbers are not in yet, but more stops could be taken away after the first of the year.

Other cities using transit signal priority technology on board rapid buses include:

• Eugene, Ore.
• Philadelphia, Penn.
• Tacoma, Wash.
• Los Angeles, Calif.
• Oakland, Calif.
• Sacramento County, Calif.