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Los Angeles, we're moving a step closer to the future. Earlier this year, Metro was in the very early stages of testing out the implementation of WiFi on buses, and now they're trying out something really cool: free WiFi and a phone-charging station at a downtown Los Angeles bus stop.
The bus stop across the street from City Hall on Spring Street, between Temple and 1st streets, is the first one to get the special treatment, according to Metro's blog, The Source. It has a bus shelter, a hotspot for smartphones and a USB port so folks can charge their smartphones. There's also an electronic sign that posts real-time Metro and DASH bus arrivals. You can press a button, and a voice will tell you when the next bus will arrive.
Nice job @pietromarx and @francoisnion on this full-service bus stop! Great @metrolosangeles addition. pic.twitter.com/X4I5s6y6oh
— Carter Rubin (@CarterRubin) June 24, 2015
The City Hall bus shelter isn't the only one with shiny new additions. Nine bus shelters in downtown Los Angeles, including ones near and at Union Station, have electronic signs with real-time bus arrivals listed as part of the testing.
Metro and LADOT are the ones helming this project, and if all goes well, they plan on implementing these type of amenities to other L.A. county bus shelters in the next couple of years. They'll be studying how this particular bus shelter works out, seeing if the technology works and if folks will vandalize it. We hope this doesn't become one of those "this is why we can't have nice things" situation.