Monterey-Salinas Transit passengers will be surfing from Monterey to San Jose or King City to Salinas, but they won’t need wetsuits! Starting Wednesday, July 18, 2007, passengers on MST’s longer routes – Lines 23 Salinas-King City, 53 Monterey Peninsula-South County Express, and 55 Monterey-San Jose Express - will be able surf the internet to download e-mails, work, shop, and read the latest news from their seats on the bus when wireless internet service is made available. Travelers transferring to other MST lines, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), Caltrain, and Amtrak can surf the Internet while commuting from as far as Monterey to San Jose (on Line 55), along the Highway 101 Corridor between King City and Salinas (on Line 23) and along Highways 101 and 68 between King City and the Monterey Peninsula, including Pebble Beach. The service is free to passengers and available during a two-year test pilot project funded by a grant from the Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District.

The MST WiFi ä service will operate in the same way as a wireless hotspot. Any equipped laptop or PDA will be able to connect to the Internet through a router on the vehicle. In order to attract new riders, MST envisions introducing additional technology in the future such as Smart Card fare payment, online trip planners, and real-time information on when a bus is due to arrive at various stops.

WiFi ä amenities on buses and trains are becoming more common and are frequently cited as inducements for using public transit. Based on the results of a survey of Line 55 and Line 23 passengers, MST determined that more than half of the riders on these routes would plug into WiFi ä service. The majority of riders on Line 55 who currently utilize WiFi ä devices are employed full time, while WiFi ä users on Line 23 more often are students, including those attending Hartnell College.