Untitled Document

511 website includes valuable public transit information

Idaho’s 511 Traveler Services website is among the few systems in the U.S. to incorporate a public transportation option for locating and tracking transit providers.

The transit option was added early this year to provide links to local transit and bus providers using Google map technology that mirrors the other Idaho 511 web pages. A menu bar on the left includes bus/transit links to providers in Coeur d’Alene, the Teton Valley, Pocatello, Targhee (Idaho Falls area), North Idaho, Sun Valley, Treasure Valley Transit (Nampa), Moscow and Lewiston, as well as Northwestern Trailways service between Spokane and Boise.

Providers, like Pocatello Regional Transit, show color-coded route maps, approximate bus arrival times and an estimated location of the city bus on the chosen route. Real time bus locations are based on schedule time, but will will transition to live global positioning system technology as Idaho’s buses become equipped with GPS technology.

Coordination at the community level helped bring the 511 Transit system online. Development costs were spread across all participating communities, dramatically reducing the direct costs to individual participating providers.

Access to the public transportation site is available for high-bandwidth website users through the 511 main entry (splash) page at 511.idaho.gov .