When is the next bus coming? Your phone will tell you

LAWRENCE — Transit riders in Lawrence can now send a text message to find out when their bus will arrive. 

All city and university buses have recently been equipped with GPS tracking units, which transmit the location of all vehicles at any point in time. With this technology in place, passengers now have the ability to know when their bus is coming.

“This new feature will make it more convenient for people to use the bus,” said Robert Nugent, city transit administrator. “It allows you to personalize your travel by using your own mobile phone to receive the next bus arrival times.”

“This is the next step in improving our coordinated transit service,” said Danny Kaiser, assistant director of Parking & Transit at the University of Kansas. “We are always looking for ways to make the experience better for our passengers.”

Each bus stop in Lawrence is assigned a bus stop number. When a text message with the bus stop number is sent, the system then predicts when it will arrive at the selected stop. 

Bus riders should still get to the bus stop a few minutes early since many factors can affect the arrival time. When using this new texting feature, message and data rates may apply.

Instructions for how to use the new texting system are online at Lawrence Transit. For additional help, call (785) 864-4644.