OC Transpo unveils visual, audio alerts

OC Transpo unveiled on Friday its new announcement system that will give riders both visual and audio alerts about upcoming stops.

The $12 million system will include an interior display showing the bus route number and each upcoming stop.

The automated call-out system will be gradually installed on the agency's 1,000 buses.

Half of the vehicles will have the system by the end of the year while the rest of the buses will be outfitted by next February, OC Transpo officials said.

"I think it will be a lot more reliable," said Terrance Green, a high profile advocate for the system.

Green, who is blind, complained for years that bus drivers weren't keeping him informed.

An independent focus group selected Montreal actor Julian Doucet as the voice of the new automated system. Doucet is the son of Ottawa Coun. Clive Doucet who represents Capital Ward.

"It feels emotional," Clive Doucet said on Friday/ "I heard him on the voice in the bus and I wanted to talk to him."