Triangle residents will get a glimpse today of an app-based and texting technology that will provide mass-transit users with real-time updates on bus arrival information throughout the region.
Transportation officials say it will be the nation's first such technology that incorporates routes and buses from multiple transit agencies.
The GoLive network, which launches Nov. 15, will include six local transit systems to help riders plan trips across the region, from Chapel Hill and Durham to Raleigh and Cary. It's being introduced this morning at the Durham Station Transportation Center, 515 W. Pettigrew St., Durham.
Raleigh and Chapel Hill have offered real-time arrival notifications for several years, and that will be expanded to the other agencies and coordinated.
The system will be aided by about 3,000 digital message signs that identify each bus stop and provide instructions on how to use the system. The IDs will tell the system the user's location and use it to predict the arrival of the next bus.
Transit users will be able to request arrival times by sending a text message, by browsing a website, or by downloading a smart phone app.
GoLive will provide arrival-time information for Triangle Transit, Chapel Hill Transit, Durham Area Transit Authority, Capital Area Transit and N.C. State University's Wolfline buses. Cary's C-Tran will come onto the system next year.
The $1.6 million project was paid for by federal stimulus funds and matching contributions from state and local transportation authorities.
