Coffee shop keeps streetcar passengers alert

by all | 11 April 2011 9:50 am

Grinder[1]

File photo

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[2], which displays streetcar information on a Google Map. The TTC is now adding similar vehicle mapping technology to its own website.

Endnotes:
  1. [Image]: http://www.signmedia.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Grinder.jpg
  2. whereismystreetcar.appspot.com: http://whereismystreetcar.appspot.com

Source URL: https://www.signmedia.ca/coffee-shop-keeps-streetcar-passengers-alert/