Kasie DaSilva
The future is here – later on this year Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) riders will be able to charge their smart phones during their commute.
The TTC’s plan is to have 200 new hybrid buses hitting routes throughout the city in between July and September.
ttc.ca
These new buses will have 12 USB ports for charging smart phones and devices. It’s part of the commitments made by the TTC 2018 Customer Charter.
TTC spokesperson Stuart Green said that the USB ports being added onto these new buses is a part of their modernization program.
“People are more reliant than ever on their mobile devices and that tends to eat up a lot of battery,” Green said. “It’s one way we can help.”
The new and improved buses will also feature three individually operated flip-down seats to create space for strollers and large passenger belongings, and two passenger information displays.
Along with not having to worry about your phone dying during your bus ride, there are many more things coming to help modernize the transit system.
“You see the new streetcars we having rolling out, we’ve got new displays and signs in our stations, next bus arrival times in some bus shelters and we’re going to be expanding that project,” he said.
“There’s a number of things we’re doing to modernize the system and take advantage of technology to give better real time communication to our customers.”
Next, the TTC is considering to install Wi-Fi on buses, subway trains and street cars since they have completed putting Wi-Fi in all subway stations in late 2017 .
“We’re moving in a direction where eventually we might get to Wi-Fi on vehicles,” he said.