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Grinder Coffee in downtown Toronto is using a wall-mounted digital sign to help keep customers aware when the next streetcar is arriving.
The café, which opened last year on Main Street, serves Montreal-style bagels and coffee to many waiting Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) riders. The screen uses real-time updates to show them when the next four, five or six streetcars along the 506 Carleton route will arrive outside Grinder’s door.
“People come in, look up and make a decision to have a bagel or not,” owner Euan Mowat told The Toronto Star. “They don’t have to stand out in the rain.”
The information on the screen is fed from a third-party website, whereismystreetcar.appspot.com, which displays streetcar information on a Google Map. The TTC is now adding similar vehicle mapping technology to its own website.
