SCRANTON, Pa. — With gas prices on the rise, more people may be tempted to take the bus, and now riders in Lackawanna County have another reason to ride–COLTS buses are now equipped with free Wi-Fi.
COLTS upgraded some of its technology to include Wi-Fi on buses through a program offered by PennDOT for communications and safety.
Communications director Gretchen Wintermantel says new modems were installed to help with driver radios on its main bus routes. The modems have two bands, and using the second for free Wi-Fi made sense.
"It gave us the opportunity to offer passenger Wi-Fi, so we obviously wanted to be able to do that for our passengers and keep everybody connected," Wintermantel said.
"A lot of people may not have the financial ability to pay phone bills, and everybody needs Wi-Fi once in a while," Isom Burgess said.
COLTS has made it easy for riders to connect to the internet. Once you get on, you look for the information, the bus number, enter the password, and you're online.
We found people getting off the bus at the Lackawanna County Transit Center in downtown Scranton who were thrilled about having free internet access.
"On my way home, I'll definitely tap into the Wi-Fi and see if it's high speed. I'm grateful, and it's a blessing," Ramon Paniagua said.
Many of the people we spoke with say they take the bus every day, and having Wi-Fi will help on some of the longer rides.
"If you're stuck at the beginning and going to the end, it could be an hour bus ride, and this will keep people entertained," Burgess said.
"I could read, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, even watch you guys at Newswatch 16," Paniagua added.
COLTS hopes the added perk of free Wi-Fi will encourage more people to ride the bus.
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