If you’re a bus rider, you know how annoying it can be sitting at a stop and wondering how long until the next bus arrives. But if you have a smartphone, Capital Metro will ease your pain a bit through the use of quick-response codes at bus stops and rail stations. The codes are those square blocks you’ve probably seen that look like a digitized Rorschach test (such as the example shown here); when scanned via a QR reader app on your phone camera, they pull up information on your screen. The Cap Metro QR codes provide info on scheduled arrivals and detours (along with some promotions of local businesses), and will eventually track buses and trains in real time for even greater arrival/departure accuracy. (Cap Metro has already installed the latter technology on its MetroAccess fleet and is working up a plan to install it on all buses.)
This article appears in April 29 • 2011.