Here’s a great video from Streetfilms showing how Chicago enables people to track exactly where their bus is, using GPS technology.
We already have a very basic version of this in Auckland – in that you can check on the computer how long until the bus gets to your stop (along some routes), and at some stops you can see how many minutes away your bus really is on a sign. But the way in which this is presented and shared around into cafes, bookstores and so forth works really well I think.
Which reminds me, whenever I try to use the MAXX website on my mobile phone I get horrible problems with the autofill options in journey planner. Google Maps seems to work better, but is still overly complex. Do others who try to get PT information on their smartphones have the same problems?
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I downloaded the Google Maps app for my Nokia Symbian phone and it works really well. WHen using my older phone I just used the SMS service whch works well too, but the information is very basic compared to what Google Map can show.
GPS tracking is all good and nice but unless backed up with a PT system with decent frequency it’s a waste of time, in Boston I end up walking most of the time because waiting for the next bus to come would take longer than the 30 minutes it takes to walk home. In comparison Zurich had signs with scheduled times but I never took any notice of them simpy because the trams were so frequent that I had absolutely no need to worry about when the next one was coming. In many ways I find the whole GPS tracking a bit of a smokescreen, in my view all it ends up telling me is how poor PT is. I’m happy with apps that shows what connections I can take to get from A and B, but unless this technology is backed up with a reliable service on the group it’s not going to help. Only when we have an extensive, frequent, reliable i.e. buslanes etc, system are people going to be drawn to PT and made to keep coming back.
I find the accuracy of the estimates on the Auckland system great in the morning when leaving from home, but when waiting for a bus in Newmarket the estimated time to arrival will go up and down, and has often been showing 5+ minutes when the bus has finally turned up. I’m sure that some of this is due to the unpredictable traffic flows along Broadway, but it is very frustrating.
Anyone noticed that Google Maps / Google Transit has stopped working?
It seems there’s no schedule data. It keeps telling me “Sorry, we don’t have transit schedule data for a trip from (my origin point) to (my destination) at the time and date you specified” and it offers me driving directions instead.
Definitely would like a multi-platform (iOS, Android etc) application for PT around Auckland…. Google Maps is more of a stop-gap measure…
Anyone know if any work is underway on something of this nature?
I know there were some iOS apps that were out there but I’m not sure about Android, I would be surprised if there wasn’t any
Ideally it should use GPS to work out where you are. You just type in where you want to go and it pops up with options – including a brief explanation of how to get to the nearest stop.
I’m really looking forward to this, it’s a pet peeve of mine.
One other side-benefit of it is that busses will much more accurately register which route & direction they are travelling because failing to do so will muck up the tracking.