Smart bus tracking system now on all Edmonton transit buses

After five years and at a cost of $18 million, the city of Edmonton has now installed smart technology on every one of its buses.

The technology is intended to allow transit riders to track all 928 ETS buses on their desktops or mobile devices before they walk to the bus stop.

"Now that winter is coming, the biggest advantage is that you don't have to wait in the cold for those two or three minutes," said Priya Bhasin-Singh of Edmonton Transit. "You can take that extra two or three minutes at home and see on your phone or computer that your bus is coming and you can make it to your bus stop just in time."

The buses are tracked in real time. The city recommends riders do so by using Transit, a third-party app.

Two years ago, the city's Live To Go app faced criticism for being too complicated for new users. Bhasin-Singh said things will be easier now that all buses are trackable.