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Town rolls out new transit app that lets riders track municipal buses

February 27, 2020   ·   0 Comments

By Mike Baker

Orangeville Transit has entered the 21st century – offering local residents an opportunity to track municipal buses using a brand-new smart phone app. 

Unveiled last Thursday (Feb. 20), the new Orangeville Bus Tracker app presents users with live, up-to-date information on the Town’s three local bus routes. Developed in-house, the new app works through an Auto Vehicle Location system to track the live location of buses. To facilitate the new program, the municipality installed trackers on each of its four buses.

“The Town of Orangeville is embracing current technologies that allow us to better communicate services to our residents,” said Mayor Sandy Brown. “The new bus app is a perfect example of improving the level of service and making the Orangeville public transit system more convenient to use.”

In order to make use of the new application, riders are asked to select their stop, or alternatively, select their route using their device. The app will then display how many minutes it will be until the next two buses arrive at the selected stop. A map is also displayed, which shows exactly where the bus is along its route in real time. 

Currently, Orangeville Transit offers three routes in the community, with buses operating six days per week, from 7:15 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. from Monday to Friday, and from 7:15 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. on Saturday. There is no bus service in town on Sundays, or on holidays. 

The community’s previous Council made an ambitious commitment to revamp the transit service beginning in 2014 – stating their intent to purchase three new buses to service the three routes in town, while also making plans to, eventually, implement a fourth route. That potentially fourth route has been permanently delayed pending the completion of the Hansen Boulevard road connection. 

Last fall, Dufferin-Caledon MPP Sylvia Jones, along with Mayor Brown, announced a $2.1 million investment into the Town’s transit system, which will cover the purchase of two new buses, a glass shelter, benches and lay-by bus lane. In essence, the money will be used to complete the municipal transit transfer station. Once slated for Centre Street, directly in front of the Edelbrock Centre, the final location of that transit transfer station has yet to be decided by the Town. 

For more information on the municipality’s new bus tracker app, visit transit.orangeville.ca.

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