Houston Transit Makes Historic $26M Investment Into Real-Time Arrival Screens

In what appears to be the largest investment of its kind in U.S. history, the city of Houston is installing 3,000 real-time arrival information signs across its bus and rail stations — and giving riders relief from the familiar dread of waiting for a ride that seems like it might never come.

According to a press release from GMV, the transit technology firm contracted to install it, Houston METRO is putting $26 million toward the new signage, which will utilize a combination of multimedia video screens and LED scrolling messages that METRO will be able to update with departure information and service advisories in real-time. Officials are hopeful the move will cut down on missed connections and curry confidence among its 200,000+ average weekday riders.

Houston’s signage announcement comes just three months before the Federal Transit Administration announced it will require all transit agencies operating fixed routes to report their “General Transit Feed Specification” (or GTFS) data, which could pave the way for more agencies to follow their lead. Originally short for Google Transit Feed Specification, GTFS is the open source data that powers apps like Google Maps, Transit, and Moovit, as well as agency-maintained real-time arrival screens.