A new technology will be boarding the bus this week, when the City of Red Deer kicks off testing of new intelligent transit features on a small fleet of buses.

Six buses will be equipped with new technologies like stop announcements, passenger counting equipment and enhanced security and accessibility to test the system before installing on all transit buses later this year.

“We are excited to start testing the systems with our drivers and riders,” said Steve Parkin, transit superintendent planning and Action Bus. “Riders on these test buses will see things that look different – like stop announcements and added security features like cameras inside and outside of the buses.”

Red Deer Transit is testing the system on this small fleet to ensure the rest of the fleet will roll out seamlessly this fall. The buses that are being equipped with the new technology will display a notice on board that they are in test phase so riders are aware, and they will be rotating through all routes, including BOLT and Red Deer County routes.

“This is one of the final steps in implementing our new intelligent transit service, which we plan to go live with this November,” said Parkin. “The complete system will also include riders being able to access real time transit information at their fingertips.”

For customer inquiries and feedback about the test fleet, contact Red Deer Transit at 403-342- 8225, transit@reddeer.ca or visit www.reddeer.ca/transit.

-Submitted by the City of Red Deer