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City to track bus service to maintain traffic flow

By Philip Newman

The New York City Transit Authority is preparing to spend millions of dollars in another attempt to solve the age-old problem of buses that bunch up and cause service gaps that frustrate passengers.

NYC Transit President Lawrence Reuter said last week the agency expects to award a contract later this year on a new system using satellites to track the 4,500 NYC Transit buses.

Transit officials said that ultimately they hoped to provide not only more even arrival times but electronic screens at bus stops to inform riders when the next bus is supposed to arrive.

It will not be the first time the Transit Authority has tried to use high-tech equipment to straighten out the bus problem. In 2000, the TA pulled out of a previous contract with a company trying to solve the problem after four years of unsuccessful attempts to use satellites to keep track of buses.

Reuter said it could take until 2008 at the latest for the new system to go into operation, providing the technology works. Under the previous contract, officials said high rise buildings interfered with satellite transmissions although the Transit Authority now feels technology has improved enough to try it again.

By locating the buses, dispatchers would be able to instruct bus drivers in a way so as to prevent bunching, a situation that has long plagued the system. Bunching results in several buses arriving in rapid succession only to create a long period without any buses.

The transit watchdog agency Straphangers Campaign has periodically criticized bus service, with one report saying New York City Transit Authority buses arrive late or in bunches and creep along more slowly than in any other city in America.