Arrowhead Transit, the largest rural transportation network in Minnesota, launched a new mobile app this month that allows users to book trips on their smart phones and track the bus in real-time to see how close it is to picking them up.
The technology is a game-changer for many of the thousands of people who rely on public transportation in the huge 10-county region that Arrowhead Transit serves. It provides bus service spanning from the Canadian border to counties just north of the Twin Cities metro area. At more than 20,000 square miles, it’s the second-largest public transit network by geography in the country.
“I actually love it,” Grand Rapids resident Krissy Starkey, 50, said of the app. She relies on Arrowhead Transit for rides to and from work and to run errands around town.
Starkey said it saves a lot of time to schedule a bus ride on her phone, rather than having to call an operator for an appointment. “Because when you call, you’re on hold for like ten minutes, maybe longer,” Starkey said.
Before the app, the only way people could schedule rides was to call Arrowhead Transit’s dispatch system. At the busiest times, wait times were “sometimes more than you would like,” conceded transit director Brandon Nurmi.
Another huge benefit — customers can now track in real-time the location of their bus, and when it’s going to arrive to pick them up. With the old system, users had to wait outside during a 10-20 minute window when their bus was expected to arrive.
Having to stand outside in the extreme cold of a northern Minnesota winter “was a real concern and problem for our customers,” Nurmi said. Now the app lets them know, “hey, it's here, and you just go out.”
Unlike transit systems in larger metro areas that are built around fixed routes and high-density corridors, many rural transit systems offer “dial-a-ride” service, where people schedule their rides over the phone, or now in Arrowhead Transit’s case, through the app.
The bus picks them up wherever they are, and drops them off where they want to go. Arrowhead Transit offers that service within 14 larger communities throughout its service area, including Virginia and Hibbing on the Iron Range, Two Harbors and Grand Marais along the North Shore, Ely, Grand Rapids, Cambridge and other cities.
Arrowhead Transit also offers commuters rides between different cities in the service territory. Buses will also deviate from established routes by up to three quarters of a mile to pick people up at their homes.
“This is about more than a new app,” Nurmi added. “It’s about improving how people access transportation in rural communities and making our system easier to use in everyday life.”
Transit officials say the new system will also give dispatchers and drivers better tools for scheduling and routing, and helps the agency collect more data on how riders use the service, which can be used to guide future planning.
“This system… helps us schedule more efficiently, and creates a better experience for the people who depend on us,” said Sandra Wheelecor, Arrowhead Transit’s operations director.
