Very soon SEPTA riders in Montgomery County will know exactly where their bus, trolley or train is at and how quickly it’s coming down the line.

A $5.6 million investment in new technology is set to provide 30-second updates by the end of the summer, according to a Philly.com report by Jason Laughlin.

SEPTA’s technology is already onboard trains and will use cellular modems to track its 1,400 buses and 159 trolleys in real time.

“It’s an enormous amount of data that can give you day-in and day-out performance,” said General Manager Jeff Knueppel in the article.

And it’s a much-needed improvement.  Commuter Dave Grooms has been monitoring SEPTA’s performance through his @SEPTA_Riders Twitter account.

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“If your schedule’s not going to be right, at least tell me where your bus is,” he said.

Those 30-second updates are expected to arrive in stations and on the SEPTA app by the end of the month, and they’ll be coming to website and app maps by the end of the summer.

SEPTA plans to spend another $5 million to bring real-time tracking to subways and underground trolleys by mid-2018.

Read more about the high-tech transit upgrade on Philly.com here.

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