No sitting, waiting: parents and passengers to benefit as Tamworth buses gain live tracking technology

Dozens of the city's buses have been fitted with live tracking technology connected to the Trip Planner app, run by Transport for NSW.

People will be able to access information such as where the buses are, how many seats are available, whether those buses are air conditioned and if they're wheelchair accessible.

Hannafords Coaches manager Geoff Searle said the technology will greatly benefit passengers, especially parents at school drop off and pick up.

"It'll be a massive, big advantage for parents, especially for parents living out of town because they can just see where the bus is and if the bus is running late they can just schedule their time to come down five minutes before the bus is there," he said.

"If something happens, like at the moment in Tamworth over the last three years with the amount of roadworks going on, people can just access that and go 'the bus is still 10 minutes away so I don't have to be down there yet'."

Mr Searle said while his business had been operating their own live tracking app for years, he believes it will be beneficial to have it all in one place for public transport providers throughout Tamworth.

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Tamworth MP Kevin Anderson said it was great news to see the technology coming online in his electorate, and he was sure locals would reap the rewards of the upgrade.

"More than 75 buses in Tamworth have been fitted with vehicle tracking and automatic passenger counting technology and now customers can access real-time trip information," he said.

"Parents and carers can use the data to track the arrival of school buses, and customers will be able to reduce the time spent waiting at a bus stop.

"Five local bus operators... have helped to roll out the technology across 10 regular routes and 102 school routes throughout Tamworth, as well as four special event routes for the Country Music Festival."

The technology has already been rolled out regionally in Armidale, Bathurst, Bega, Coffs Harbour, Dubbo, Forbes, Parkes, Grafton, Port Macquarie, Queanbeyan, Tweed Heads and Wagga Wagga.

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