SEPTA Adding Free Wi-Fi At More Subway Stations, and a Wait-Time App
By Mike DeNardo
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Septa is expanding free wireless networking at its transit stations, and it's launching an iPhone "app" to help riders discover their wait times.
Third-party mass transit apps have been out for a while, but now there's an official Septa app that allows passengers with iPhones to estimate their wait times at transit stops, to within three minutes.
"We've encapsulated that data and laid it over a Google map to give our customers both a visual view of the route (and) the locations of the buses within three minutes," explains Septa's senior information technology director, Bill Zebrowski.
Septa is also expanding free Comcast WiFi access over the next two years to all stations on the Market-Frankford and Broad Street lines. As part of the deal, Comcast gets station signage and users will see an Xfinity screen when they log on.
"We want them to become more and more our customers if they're not our customers," says Comcast Cable senior VP of business development Tom Nagel, "so our goal is to go bigger and broader with Septa over time."
The free WiFi is available only at Septa stations -- not on board the trains.
