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MBTA scheduled to announce real-time arrival info for every last bus line

By adamg on Thu, 09/09/2010 - 6:18am

State transportation officials and Gov. Patrick gather at the Ruggles T stop this morning at 10 to announce the availability of next-bus data for all 187 MBTA bus routes. The data is used by a variety of apps to let riders know when the next bus on their route is expected to show up. The T started releasing public bus-arrival info as part of a pilot project last fall.

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The T
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buses


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Comments

By Eighthman on Thu, 09/09/2010 - 8:39am.

The Mass Transit app downloaded new bus routes last night; not that I could tell which ones were new (all the routes I use were available a while ago).

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By Michael on Thu, 09/09/2010 - 9:13am.

The next six 66 buses will be arriving in:
17 minutes
18 minutes
18.5 minutes
49 minutes
50 minutes
1 hour, 23 minutes

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By Allstonian on Thu, 09/09/2010 - 10:44am.

I don't have a smartphone, so I'm limited in my choices, and unfortunately NextBus's SMS application has been unavailable for a couple of weeks now. Now that the T is formally announcing route info availability, I'm really hoping that NextBus gets this up and running again soon!

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By anon on Thu, 09/09/2010 - 3:39pm.

I think its called Just Hop On.

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By Tom N on Thu, 09/09/2010 - 5:23pm.

Sorry to hear this. If you are a US Cellular customer, this would explain the problem. US Cellular has blocked SMS access to the provider of the text messaging service for NextBus. Nothing to do with NextBus and no information is available as to why they blocked it. You should contact US Cellular to find out the reason.

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By Allstonian on Fri, 09/10/2010 - 9:17am.

Virgin Mobile, not US Cellular. SMS worked fine through 8/20 - I went on vacation for a week and when I went back to work it was dead. Very frustrating - I'd quickly come to depend on it!

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By DoodleBean on Thu, 09/09/2010 - 11:18am.

Even though I don't have a smartphone, this is good news. It makes waiting much less stressful when you know how long the wait will be. And, if you find out a bus is delayed for a long time, you may be able to make alternative arrangements.

I know. I've ridden on the Silver Line.

Kudos to the T!

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By HenryAlan on Thu, 09/09/2010 - 11:41am.

I've been making good use of the NextBus web app, but if the 'T wants to really take it to the next level, they'll put up some signs in the bus shelters listing the approaching buses and wait times. I was in
San Francisco in April, and signs like that were on many of the bus stops. As a visitor without a lot of knowledge about the system, it was invaluable information.

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By J on Thu, 09/09/2010 - 3:22pm.

The silver line has screens counting down the arrival.

Unfortunately, most cities have those screens as part of the ad contract with the company that provides shelters in return for being allowed to sell ads. I dont think the Boston contract is up for renewal any time soon.

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By DoodleBean on Thu, 09/09/2010 - 3:36pm.

...which you can use at home or work before you leave: http://www.clickteam.info/davidn/bus

Thanks DavidN for developing it!

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By issacg on Fri, 09/10/2010 - 10:42am.

Good. No, actually, great. But when will similar information be available to developers so we can get this information to the many more people who ride the "rapid" transit lines each day?

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