June 30, 2008
When Will That Bus Arrive?
You know the problem. You're on the bus and you have a choice: You can get off in two stops and make a transfer to a bus that will get you to your destination, or you you can stay on and transfer to a different one at a second stop.
The switch at the first stop is a shorter and faster route, but only if the bus you are changing to is coming in the next few minutes. Otherwise, you might get stuck waiting for half an hour. Sure the schedule says it'll be there, but the variables of traffic and what time your watch/phone/iPod says versus what time Metro thinks it is make that printed schedule a best-case scenario.
A friend of Seattlest's who does not own a car, and is so committed to not owning one that he moved from Beacon Hill to Roosevelt using his bike and a trailer, put together a web page that predicts when the next bus will arrive at any given stop served by Metro.
The interface is not perfect—he could only use the very imperfect data Metro had to offer—but it is accurate. Once you figure out how to find the spot you want to know about, it works. In a couple of spot tests, every single bus we watched showed up exactly when the tool said it would. It's pretty neat, and wildly helpful for making those short transfers.
The untitled photo comes from the Seattlest Flickr pool and was placed there by rsplatpc. thanks!
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Made from the same data that powers the Real-Time Tracker Map Java Applet available on the metrokc site.
Also try the Metro Bus Tracker Yahoo Widget, and Evan Siroky has created some Metro Data Tools as well.
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There is an iPhone version of this same thing.
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Add MyBus.org to the pile along with its iPhone/Palm/etc. version.
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One more for the list:
http://onebusaway.org/
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Thanks to all! Now to just get the iPhone app to work well on Opera Mobile 9.5....
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There is another way, for those of us with non web enabled phones. Details are here http://seattlejo.com/?p=193
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"he moved from Beacon Hill to Roosevelt using his bike and a trailer"
Whoa. Mad props.
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Cool stuff.
It's definitely time to demand more from bus service. It has not kept up with improvements in services or technology the last 20 years. RFID tracking and LED arrival tickers at bus stops would go a long way towards promoting increased bus ridership, along with $6.00 a gallon gas!
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As a selfish jerk, I don't want to promote bus ridership until there are more buses. Every bus I ride now is standing-room only with johnny-come-lately riders.
(OK, I'm only semi-serious here, but it sure would be nice to get a seat again, like back in the $2.50-a-gallon days.)
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I rode the bus for years and it was okay -- stopped taking it for six months, gas prices SHOT up, and I took the bus again the other night only to find that in my absence, humanity has gotten horrifyingly smellier and ill-behaved. And there were MORE people on the bus. That is why I'm cosigning Bigyaz on the selfish jerk/more buses issue.