A tracking system that shows customers where Centro buses are in real time is in a test stage in Syracuse.
Bus Tracker is already in place in Centro’s smaller markets, Auburn, Oswego, Rome and Utica. But the bus company just finished geocoding the system in Syracuse. Centro spokesman Steve Koegel says now that’s done, patrons can actually see buses moving along a bus route in Syracuse.
"It takes that fear out of the customer of when is the bus coming, is the bus coming, is it delayed," said Koegel. "This way you can see it literally on a map move on your screen and say 'there’s my bus, it’s on the way, I can get to my bus stop'.”
Koegle says the system has proved popular on those smaller markets, especially among college students. Right now Centro is testing the desktop version of the software. But that’s not the end of it.
"By the end of the summer, we should have an app ready for rollout, where people can actually see this on their phones in an app version," he said. "Currently you can go get a version on your mobile phone on the website, it’s just not as user friendly as an app is.”
