This week Brett McCall, a concerned Asheville citizen, will present an
idea for real time location tracking on Asheville Transit buses to the
Transit Commission. This idea incorporates the use of GPS enabled
phones and a system called Glympse to track bus locations in real time
and provide that information to bus riders.
This system will address one of the chief complaints from potential
bus riders, that the bus is unreliable, by giving them real time
information about where their bus is. Additionally, this system offers
a significant cost savings when compared to other GPS tracking
services. Coupled with the route improvements detailed it the Downtown
Master Plan, this system will help to improve bus ridership.
The initial test phase of this program will be proposed for one month
on Route 9 with an estimated budget of $1,000. We are hoping to be
able to fund all or most of this test phase with private funds,
demonstrating to the Transit Commission that there is public support
for such a plan. Since Route 9 has a direct impact on West Asheville
and its businesses, we hope we can count on the West Asheville
Business Association for support. In exchange for this support, we
propose to advertise, on the buses, the businesses and associations
that made this test possible.
This plan has yet to be approved by the Transit Commission, so at this
point all we ask is for a commitment. We will happily accept whatever
you can offer.
For more information about Glympse please visit www.glympse.com. If
you have any questions please contact me via email or by phone, or you
can contact Brett McCall at brettmccall@gmail.com.
Thank You For Your Time
Stephen Eggett
828.335.4599
saeggett@gmail.com

