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.