A new computerized telephone bus route information system was announced by Mayor Bill Norrie.
Called Telebus, the $1.3 million system will allow transit users to call a special phone number listed at their stop to get bus arrival times there.
"I'm really excited about the telebus system," Norrie said.
Costs for the system were shared 50-50 by the city and the provincial government under a 1983 agreement, he said.
The number of calls for route information and complaints prompted the introduction of telebus.
Currently 2,500 calls are received by the transit system daily.
With telebus, an estimated 20,000 calls per day will be handled, Rick Borland, transit department director, said.
Because telebus would encourage more people to take the bus, more revenue would be generated, he said.
Norrie said telebus would cost $200,000 a year to operate, but because of the new system, transit would have $375,000 worth of new bus users.
The most common complaint was the amount of time spent waiting for a bus which was delayed by weather, traffic, or some other delay, he said.
"We're trying to minimize this waiting time for them by providing up to date schedule information in an easy and convenient manner."
Michael List, president of Teleride Corporation, the makers of the telebus system, said most people using the system would be the regular transit users.
"But, others who usually do not ride, because they're not sure when the bus will come, will the the bus now," List said.