The Bay Area Transportation Authority (BATA) is gearing up for a major rollout of new and expanded services on June 26, including real-time bus tracking, a new City Loop route, expanded on-demand rides throughout all of Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties, a new smart phone app, and increased hours and frequency on existing routes.

New technology intended to make it easier for riders to use public transit is a key part of the rollout. BATA is launching a new website, www.BataBusTracker.com, that will allow riders to track all fixed-route buses in real time on an interactive map by route or by arrival time at individual stops. The Transit app and Google Maps will also be updated with real-time tracking information for BATA’s fleet. In addition, buses will now play automated vehicle announcements informing riders of upcoming stops.

A new BATA Link app will allow riders to schedule on-demand rides anywhere in BATA’s service area by smart phone, as well as see alternate options for fixed-route stops nearby that could offer quicker or cheaper rides. Users will be able to pay for Link rides directly through the app. Link itself will undergo a significant revamp, with on-demand service being expanded to all of Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties from 6am to 7pm (the area around Traverse City will have extended service until 10pm daily). Riders will no longer need to call a week in advance to request rides; instead, they can request them up to a day in advance or in real time as needed. If a requested ride time slot is full, an alternative available time slot plus or minus 30 minutes will be offered.

“Our riders continue to ask for technologies to improve the rider experience, and real-time bus tracking and on-board vehicle announcements are just a few of the technology improvements we have on the horizon,” says BATA Communications and Development Director Eric Lingaur. “With BataBusTracker.com, riders will know instantly how long until the next bus arrives, and with the BATA Link app, riders will have on-demand transportation at their fingertips.”

BATA is also launching a new City Loop on June 26. Route 7 will make connections between Meijer on US-31 to the Oak Terrace and Aspen Hills area on Garfield. The loop will have stops at the Grand Traverse Crossings (Walmart) and throughout the South Airport, LaFranier, and Garfield corridors. To help build ridership, BATA is offering free rides all summer on Route 7 until Labor Day. Lingaur says Route 7 mirrors a route that used to be in place pre-pandemic, Route 5, with BATA currently seeing significant numbers of riders using the Link system to travel between locations that will now be covered by the new loop.

All City Loop routes will also now have consistent half-hour frequency Monday-Friday from 6am-7pm, as well as hourly frequency Monday-Friday from 7pm-9pm and Saturday from 9am-6pm. That is one of several operational adjustments BATA is making to its hours and routes. Village Loop routes – which travel from Traverse City to areas like Suttons Bay, Interlochen, Kingsley, and Acme – are also getting service frequency increases and multiple new stops. The free Bayline route – which travels east-west across Traverse City – will extend service Monday-Saturday until 10pm, increase Saturday frequency with buses every 18 minutes, and add Sunday service with 35-minute frequency until 9pm. In addition, BATA’s Hall Street transfer station will now be open on Saturdays and will extend Monday-Friday service an extra hour until 7pm. Full details on all the new routes, stops, hours, and services are available online.

BATA Executive Director Kelly Dunham says the upgrades mark the “first significant enhancements we’ve been able to implement since the pandemic.” The improvements are a response to “increases in ridership and demand for public transportation,” Dunham says. “We received overwhelming community support with the passage of BATA’s millage renewal last year, and these improvements align with BATA’s recent Next Wave Transit Master Plan study.”

New internal technologies – computer-aided dispatch and automated vehicle location systems – are allowing BATA to launch its suite of external-facing upgrades, Lingaur says. “It’s about improving efficiency and effectiveness for us while also giving the community those transit features they’ve been looking for,” he says. More could be on the horizon, such as scanners by bus doors that automatically track ridership (rather than drivers doing it manually) and digital signs on bus exteriors that display which direction buses are going – a common feature on major metropolitan bus lines. The Next Wave Transit Master Plan calls for further increasing route frequency, such as having 15-minute Bayline frequency and hourly service on the Village Loops. That will kick in for some routes this month, but others – such as Kingsley and Acme – will remain on every other hour for now. “You need more staff to do that, but we’re starting to head in that direction,” says Lingaur.

BATA has made a concerted effort to increase staffing, hosting multiple driver classes in recent weeks with another session scheduled for July. “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, but we’re not out of the woods yet,” Lingaur says. “We’re keeping our heads above water and are able to beef up some services, as you can see this summer. We could still hire another five to ten drivers, but we’re making some positive improvements.”

Still more changes are on the horizon, including environmental and infrastructure upgrades. Last fall, Dunham told the Northern Express – sister publication of The Ticker – that just over half of BATA’s bases are currently propane-fueled. By 2025, Dunham anticipates that over 90 percent of the buses will be low or no emission: 84 propane and seven or more electric. BATA also broke ground last month on its new 87,000-square-foot headquarters and bus transfer station at the corner of LaFranier and Hammond roads. BATA is set to open at the site by summer 2024. When it does, more route options could come online, such as a north-south route that could allow people to park at LaFranier and ride into downtown, according to Lingaur.

Lingaur says BATA is continuing to try and evolve to not only provide more consistent service for existing riders but attract new riders by running more buses more often covering more locations. “By being able to offer these new technologies, we hope to open the doors or reduce barriers for people who weren’t really considering public transit before,” he says.