As the MTA struggles to get a bus-tracking system — a late-20th century technology — off the ground, the Downtown Alliance has brought a real-time GPS-based bus-tracking system to its Downtown Connection service. This 37-stop free bus route connects the South Street seaport with Battery Park City, and seven stops along the route now have real-time tracking information, thanks to money from Goldman Sachs, the Department of Transportation and State Senator Daniel Squadron.
“NextBus signs will make a great service—free buses for the Lower Manhattan community—even better,” Squadron said in a statement. “Now, bus riders can spend less time waiting for a bus, and more time enjoying the shops, restaurants, cultural institutions and more in this wonderful neighborhood. I am pleased to have supported this program, and I thank the Downtown Alliance and the DOT for their work in making it happen.”
The MTA, meanwhile, is still struggling with its own bus-tracking pilot program. In the past, the authority has claimed that the city’s tall buildings have interfered with GPS-based systems, but if the Downtown Alliance can bring it — and a live-tracking website — to a route, albeit a solitary one, with some of the city’s tallest buildings, the MTA’s own version shouldn’t be far behind.
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Why is the MTA developing it’s own systems, again? NextBus is a current technology that is working on bus systems right now. And has been in testing and development for at least a decade. (It first started appearing in SF during the dot-com boom.)
WMATA had enough issues that nextbus was shut down for several months & was restarted about a year ago.
Yep. And it works fairly well. And from what I know that was the initial intention… Give it a limited go, test, then make adjustments and release system wide. Which is pretty much exactly what happened.
SF used a similar trial and then expansion. Although I believe at first that was because NextBus used SF has the trial for their system entirely. So SF didn’t pay for that initial instillation. (And in SF unlike DC’s which is just phone and web based … SF installed signboards on some non-subterranean platforms.)
Not only that, SF’s nextbus is tied to the areas local 511 phone system as well.
The MTA isn’t developing its own systems, and hasn’t been for years.
http://nycbustime.info/bustime/home.jsp
My friend who works in Revenue told me that the MTA has had a GPS system on all its Revenue Armored cars for years. The had a successful pilot bus locator system at Queens Village Depot in 1980, and after that performed three GPS studies, the second one costing $14 million, and still we have nothing. Something is wrong. Draw your own conclusions.
Ummm…GPS didn’t exist in 1980.
I didn’t say GPS in 1980. I said “Bus Locator.” It wasn’t as accurate as GPS, just pinpointed buses within a quarter-mile, but it worked and was useful to tell dispatchers if buses were bunched up at one end of the route.
Was that the one which used sensors on the wheels?
I don’t believe so. I believe there were transmitters on the roofs of buses and sensors located either on buildings or utility poles every quarter-mile. It was supposed to be the prototype to be expanded throughout the City but was removed after three or six months (although it accomplished its intended purpose) due to union protests who called it “big brother” and spying. They believed it was cause the MTA to take action against bus operators who were hanging out somewhere rather than being where they were supposed to be. Like cowards, management caved in to union demands fearing a strike or work slowdowns. If an operator is goofing off, he deserves to get into trouble.
The sad fact is that one rogue driver on a line can mess the whole line timing up. Sensors on polls seam an simple solution. Using today tech it would not be that expensive.
As someone who uses the Downtown Connection service, I can tell you that the NextBus system is not that accurate. There always seems to be buses predicted to arrive that never show up. Is anyone else having this problem?