"Next Bus" telephone information system [telecom]

HAncock4 wrote: :The New York City Transit Authority has introduced a new telephone :"app" that tells riders waiting at a bus stop when the next bus will :come, using real time information. I'm impressed by it since it :requires only a regular Touch Tone telephone, not any kind of 'smart :phone', and that the information is in real time (where the buses are :actually physically located), as opposed to using merely the schedule, :as older applications used to do. Surface buses are subject to :traffic delays that disrupt schedules.

:Passengers simply dial the number, then enter the specific bus stop :code (posted on the bus stop sign).

The CTA (Chicago) has had a similar system in place for a couple years. It works via text message, web site , and cell phone apps. The user sends a text message to a set short code, with a code from the sign. The response tells you the next two buses for all routes that serve the stop at that time of day. The website shows more, and has a feature that shows were buses actually are.

It's reasonably accurate, with better accuracy te sooner the bus will get there. I've noticed that the accuracy is poor for westbound buses close to the lake -- most of the east-west routes have the eastbound bus make a loop, and become the west-bound bus, and the prediction for that part of the route is very poor. I'm not sure if they're just using a time based on the schedule, and ignoring the eastbound bus is late, or what.

The TouchTone system is an interesting modification.

SEPTA recently added a webpage that shows a map where the buses of a given route are located, using GPS from the buses. However, there is an uneven delay in reporting of several minutes and sometimes the buses are unable to report properly.

see "real time" under

Here in Seattle we have such a system called "One Bus Away" which can be accessed multiples of ways -- by smartphone, text message, web browser, or phone. The service will let you know what buses will be coming to a specific stop, and what buses have recently departed, by entering the stop number.