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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Noticed last night
By Eighthman
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).
I can save them some time
By Michael
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
NextBus SMS
By Allstonian
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!
theres a third party SMS application on the Ts website
By anon
Thu, 09/09/2010 - 3:39pm
I think its called Just Hop On.
SMS service
By Tom N
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.
Virgin Mobile
By Allstonian
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!
Cool!
By DoodleBean
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!
I've been making good use of
By HenryAlan
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.
The silver line has screens
By J
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.
There is a web app...
By DoodleBean
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!
Next Bus in....check. When do we get this info to most people?
By issacg
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?