When NexTrip was launched at the end of January, Catherine was one of the first ones to take advantage of the new technology. She was an instant fan.
“I know when the bus is actually coming without needing to memorize a schedule. No longer do I wonder if I’ll miss my bus if I use the restroom. I can set alerts on my phone for the bus near my home and stay in my air conditioning until the last minute instead of baking in the summer heat.”
Since then, she’s passed the experience on to many of her fellow riders. “Every chance I get, I help others learn about NexTrip, often breaking the ice by telling them exactly how many minutes until their bus arrives. Once, to test its accuracy, I set an alert for 1 minute. The bus arrived about a minute after the alert came to my phone. In a nutshell, I never worry about when the bus will show up as long as I have my cell. I KNOW! Thanks for implementing NexTrip.”
Although she has had a driver’s license since she was 18, Catherine has never owned or had regular access to a car, and taxicabs just aren’t cost-effective for her budget. “If Omnitrans was not an effective tool for transportation for all my non-emergency needs, I would have moved somewhere with better public transit years ago,” she says frankly.
As a regular rider, Catherine hopes to eventually see Omnitrans offer extended weekend coverage. As a Colton resident, it would allow her the freedom to enjoy more events and attend late evening services at her church of choice in Redlands. In the meantime, she is enjoying her new found flexibility with our NexTrip real-time bus prediction system.
–Juno Kughler Carlson
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