Preparing for a journey on a Madison Metro bus often entails standing in unpredictable weather wondering when the bus is going to come and if it will arrive in time for class.
Then, when the bus finally does arrive, one must push through the hordes of people to squeeze onto the already full bus and find a crevice to stand in among the dozens of squished people bundled in puffy jackets.
With all this commotion, trying to see out of the window to gauge which stop is the appropriate destination can be quite the task.?? Some people might rather bear the elements and walk??but with the new Global Positioning System, the hope of Madison Metro is that riding the bus will be easier and more enjoyable.
For the past 10 months this very expensive GPS, which is 80 percent grant-funded, has been phased into the buses throughout Madison. GPS works by having satellites that orbit the earth send radio signals from space. The GPS then interprets the signals and responds with an appropriate cue, in this case a recorded voice announcing a stop.
Julie Maryott-Walsh, Madison Metro marketing and customer service manager, said GPS is becoming more common on bus routes.
\This has been something bus lines have been doing and are doing nationwide,"" she said.
Maryott-Walsh said the system permits the dispatcher to know if the buses are behind schedule, ahead of schedule, enables the bus line to figure out the most heavily used bus stops, triggers voice announcements to orient passengers and ultimately, ""helps with planning and performance.""
The driver for bus #872 on line 80, who wished to remain anonymous, said the new system has many benefits.
""It's good for people who can't see where they are because they are squished in the middle of the bus or are new in the area,"" the bus driver said.
UW-Madison junior Rachel Bednarczuk is an avid bus user and agrees that, on the whole, the GPS is a good idea.
However, Bednarczuk said sometimes the GPS does not function properly because the voice announcements ""sometimes don't really match up with the stops.""
Bednarczuk listed line 3, which runs on the east side, as an example of where the voice announcements come to a stop altogether and defeat the purpose of the system.??
She also said she has observed some apathy toward the system from the bus drivers.
""I think the bus drivers hate it because they feel they are being watched by the dispatchers,"" she said.??
Despite the minor kinks, Madison Metro still believes the GPS will make getting around Madison faster, easier and less of a struggle.
