Text My Bus service could be replaced to cut costs

Wednesday 03 February 2016

Despite 160,000 texts a year, the Text My Bus service could be about to be cut off, and replaced with a new website to make sure Islanders don't miss the bus.

Text My Bus allows passengers to send a text from any bus stop, and get one back with the details of when their bus is going to arrive. But at a cost of £10,000 a year, the Infrastructure Minister is considering replacing it with Track My Bus instead, which he says is cheaper to run.

The new website has been developed by the Department for Infrastructure and Liberty Bus and is based on a prototype created by Islanders at Jersey's first #hackjsy hackathon event. It is supposed to show exactly where every bus is running in the Island, where your nearest bus stop is, when the next bus is due to arrive and has links to all the timetables. It also includes the school bus services. 

You’ll find the bus tracker here.

Infrastructure Minister Eddie Noel said: “I’ve been using Track My Bus on a test site and I’ve been very impressed. Not only can you watch your bus’s progress but you can also find out which buses service which stops, and see the timetable.

“I think it will appeal to a lot of people because it is really easy and fun to use. I have it as a bookmark icon on my phone now so that I can access it easily from my start page. We want people to tell us what they like and don’t like using the feedback option on the site.”