Via Garibaldi 8 Posted January 11, 2012 Share #1 Posted January 11, 2012 Well the whole bus tracking project took years to get up and running here on Staten Island, but it has finally arrived! MTA Bus Time I will be trying it out tonight for sure since I may work a bit late and see how it runs on the S54 and X12. :cool: :tup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share #2 Posted January 11, 2012 My only complaint so far is a small bug. If I want to use the desktop version on my Thunderbolt, I can't scroll down to select the stop that I want to get bus time on. There is no scroll bar to scroll down further along the route when you use the desktop version on an Android. It appears on my laptop though. You can work around it, albeit rather annoying, but it's a start. The real test will come tonight when I use it. I will try to catch a S54 instead of using car service to see how accurate it is and how reliable the S54 is from the X12. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIR North Shore Posted January 11, 2012 Share #3 Posted January 11, 2012 This is a life-changing app! It works exactly as one would expect and long, unbearable waits are no more. I've never said this before, but thank you MTA! :tup: :tup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share #4 Posted January 11, 2012 This is a life-changing app! It works exactly as one would expect and long, unbearable waits are no more. I've never said this before, but thank you MTA! :tup: :tup: If this app is as accurate as it claims to be one we should really be in for much improved service. I've been tracking the X10 and S54 buses and they have all been on time. No early ones so far. It's almost scary to think that bus service on Staten Island can be good and on time. The real test should be the S79. Those buses bunch like crazy. LMAO.... I just checked the S79 and it still has bunching problems. Two buses back to back coming down Hylan Blvd to the SI Mall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIR North Shore Posted January 11, 2012 Share #5 Posted January 11, 2012 If this app is as accurate as it claims to be one we should really be in for much improved service. I've been tracking the X10 and S54 buses and they have all been on time. No early ones so far. It's almost scary to think that bus service on Staten Island can be good and on time. The real test should be the S79. Those buses bunch like crazy. Agreed, we will see some interesting changes in service come later this year or next based off of this app alone. :cool: I'm now awaiting an app for the iphone so I don't have to use the sometimes buggy mobile site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share #6 Posted January 11, 2012 Agreed, we will see some interesting changes in service come later this year or next based off of this app alone. :cool: I'm now awaiting an app for the iphone so I don't have to use the sometimes buggy mobile site. You should be able to use the desktop version on the MTA site. I'm using it on my Thunderbolt and it works fine, minus the scroll bar that shows the stops along the route. I get around that by just tapping on any old stop along the route that my phone will show and then going to the map and seeing where the bus is from there. On a side note, I see that a later X17 was added a few days ago. I spoke last year about adding later service to the X1, X10 and X17. Maybe my comments had some effect. Now if we can have later weekend service back to Staten Island... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N6 Limited Posted January 11, 2012 Share #7 Posted January 11, 2012 Are dispatchers monitoring the Bus Time to control the bunching? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share #8 Posted January 11, 2012 Are dispatchers monitoring the Bus Time to control the bunching? Good question. I know that they have a dispatcher in the morning by Clove & Hylan and I don't see what he does to help w/bunching. If anything he makes bunching worse, esp. on the X1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIR North Shore Posted January 11, 2012 Share #9 Posted January 11, 2012 You should be able to use the desktop version on the MTA site. I'm using it on my Thunderbolt and it works fine, minus the scroll bar that shows the stops along the route. I get around that bus just tapping on any old stop along the route that my phone will show and then going to the map and seeing where the bus is from there. On a side note, I see that a later X17 was added a few days ago. I spoke last year about adding later service to the X1, X10 and X17. Maybe my comments had some effect. Now if we can have later weekend service back to Staten Island... Thanks for the advice, I'll try that out now. And it's always good to hear about improved service on any line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amtrak7 Posted January 11, 2012 Share #10 Posted January 11, 2012 For some reason, these stops are in the computer. Obviously they don't exist: Verrazano Bridge NB side @ Lee Av Gowanus SB side @ 63 St & 5 Av Gowanus NB side @ 3 Av & 62 St Battery Tunnel NB @ Brooklyn portal Battery Tunnel NB @ straight line from Andes Rd, Governor's Island (yes, under the river) I-95/I-278 interchange (SB) S74 still shows Tottenville. X22A is live w/o service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BM5 via Woodhaven Posted January 11, 2012 Share #11 Posted January 11, 2012 x42 SB service shows going right through buildings in Lower Manhattan all the way through Stuyvesant Town Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amtrak7 Posted January 11, 2012 Share #12 Posted January 11, 2012 My only complaint so far is a small bug. If I want to use the desktop version on my Thunderbolt, I can't scroll down to select the stop that I want to get bus time on. There is no scroll bar to scroll down further along the route when you use the desktop version on an Android. It appears on my laptop though. You can work around it, albeit rather annoying, but it's a start. The real test will come tonight when I use it. I will try to catch a S54 instead of using car service to see how accurate it is and how reliable the S54 is from the X12. The best way to test reliability is to take several rides while tracing your bus on your smartphone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BM5 via Woodhaven Posted January 11, 2012 Share #13 Posted January 11, 2012 For some reason, these stops are in the computer. Obviously they don't exist: Verrazano Bridge NB side @ Lee Av Gowanus SB side @ 63 St & 5 Av Gowanus NB side @ 3 Av & 62 St Battery Tunnel NB @ Brooklyn portal Battery Tunnel NB @ straight line from Andes Rd, Governor's Island (yes, under the river) I-95/I-278 interchange (SB) S74 still shows Tottenville. X22A is live w/o service. S74 has school trippers originating from Tottenville to serve the students from Tottenville High School. S54 is shown going through Richmond Park bypassing the medical center and its regular routing through the park Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark1447 Posted January 11, 2012 Share #14 Posted January 11, 2012 When is the m34/34a going to be updated with this version? There still using the old version from last year. I also hope for an Android app of this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted January 11, 2012 Author Share #15 Posted January 11, 2012 The best way to test reliability is to take several rides while tracing your bus on your smartphone. Yes, I know. I plan to do that tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amtrak7 Posted January 11, 2012 Share #16 Posted January 11, 2012 When is the m34/34a going to be updated with this version? There still using the old version from last year. I also hope for an Android app of this! They won't do it. The M34/34A use Clever Devices, a completely different system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qjtransitmaster Posted January 11, 2012 Share #17 Posted January 11, 2012 Can't wait to try it on my new galaxy S2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
checkmatechamp13 Posted January 11, 2012 Share #18 Posted January 11, 2012 If this app is as accurate as it claims to be one we should really be in for much improved service. I've been tracking the X10 and S54 buses and they have all been on time. No early ones so far. It's almost scary to think that bus service on Staten Island can be good and on time. The real test should be the S79. Those buses bunch like crazy. LMAO.... I just checked the S79 and it still has bunching problems. Two buses back to back coming down Hylan Blvd to the SI Mall. Ugh. My computer says "Error on page" at the bottom left side of the screen when I go to that page, so I'll have to go to a computer that can display it. And when SIR North Shore said "No more long waits", he's referring to the fact that you'll know when the bus is coming, so you can time yourself for it, and the wait won't be "unbearable" because you'll know where the bus is. But hopefully it will lead to better service in the way you describe, since they can control bus bunching and things like that. On a side note, I see that a later X17 was added a few days ago. I spoke last year about adding later service to the X1, X10 and X17. Maybe my comments had some effect. Now if we can have later weekend service back to Staten Island... They didn't add any service. That was just the 23:50 bus (added in September) that was moved back 10 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N6 Limited Posted January 12, 2012 Share #19 Posted January 12, 2012 Bus Time is probably so awesome with bus transfers! You can see where the bus you're transferring to is, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SIR North Shore Posted January 12, 2012 Share #20 Posted January 12, 2012 Ugh. My computer says "Error on page" at the bottom left side of the screen when I go to that page, so I'll have to go to a computer that can display it. And when SIR North Shore said "No more long waits", he's referring to the fact that you'll know when the bus is coming, so you can time yourself for it, and the wait won't be "unbearable" because you'll know where the bus is. But hopefully it will lead to better service in the way you describe, since they can control bus bunching and things like that. They didn't add any service. That was just the 23:50 bus (added in September) that was moved back 10 minutes. Exactly, less time will be spent at the bus stop wondering why the bus hasn't shown up and more time to relax in the house or grab something to eat or a cup of coffee while I wait for it to get close by. Any regular user of the si buses has a story to tell when they had to wait over 30 minutes at one point. Although I think the Spring is a little ways a way for them to place new schedules in, it will be worth the wait for the QR scanning. Using the desktop version on the iphone is very tricky because the map is too sensitive to movement. Hopefully one of the B63 apps will update soon to include SI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share #21 Posted January 12, 2012 Ugh. My computer says "Error on page" at the bottom left side of the screen when I go to that page, so I'll have to go to a computer that can display it. Probably need to clear your cache and such. I couldn't get the site to come up regularly on my laptop earlier and once I cleared the cache it was okay. But hopefully it will lead to better service in the way you describe, since they can control bus bunching and things like that. Man, talk about bunching! The S48, S79 and X14 esp. had serious bunching. There were like 4 X14s within a 20 block radius. On the S48 you had several S48s going towards Mariners' Harbor and like one going to the ferry all the way back past Richmond Avenue. It was also interesting to see buses appear and disappear. They would appear at the first stop then disappear probably because the bus would be shut off to avoid idling or whatever and then turned on to start the run. An X30 disappeared along Forest Avenue as he was running behind another X30. The one that disappeared must've been empty and took a short cut to Meredith. :cool: Back when the X30 was out of Castleton, the B/O would drop me off and then make a left down Clove or Broadway or even Bement depending on where I got off at and then he would go back to the depot. They didn't add any service. That was just the 23:50 bus (added in September) that was moved back 10 minutes. September isn't that long ago. I actually didn't know about that bus, so it's "new" for me either way. The last bus previously was the 23:30, so this is a nice addition. It takes some strain off of the X10 because at 24:00 the X10 is quite crowded, hence why they still run every 20 minutes during 23:00. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caltrain Posted January 12, 2012 Share #22 Posted January 12, 2012 Does anyone know why the bus time site is only providing distances from the stops and not estimated countdown times like most other bus systems? Knowing that a bus is a mile away is not as helpful as knowing that it is 5 minutes away. Most people understand that bus time estimates will always be approximate due to traffic lights and congestion, most other arrival systems such as nextbus can estimate arrival time based on past data, time of day and traffic info. NextBus I also think people would also accept estimates that are a minute or two early, as long they don't miss their planned bus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share #23 Posted January 12, 2012 Does anyone know why the bus time site is only providing distances from the stops and not estimated countdown times like most other bus systems? Knowing that a bus is a mile away is not as helpful as knowing that it is 5 minutes away. Most people understand that bus time estimates will always be approximate due to traffic lights and congestion, most other arrival systems such as nextbus can estimate arrival time based on past data, time of day and traffic info. NextBus I also think people would also accept estimates that are a minute or two early, as long they don't miss their planned bus. This particular system doesn't show that, but if it's your regular route you have an idea of how long the bus will take. For example, last night I tracked my regular X30 home and knew that I had more than enough time to use the bathroom etc. before leaving my office and heading downstairs to meet it across the street. It came a few minutes after I arrived across the street. Others were wondering if it was coming. Meanwhile I knew right where it was since I was also tracking it on my phone in addition to my computer in the office. :cool: The good thing is that the system allows for improvements, so maybe in the future we'll have that. I will say that tracking it last night on the X30, it was pretty accurate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abba Posted January 12, 2012 Share #24 Posted January 12, 2012 Does anyone know how to make it that you can see every bus in the whole staten sland at the same time? I haven't figured it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Via Garibaldi 8 Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share #25 Posted January 12, 2012 Does anyone know how to make it that you can see every bus in the whole staten sland at the same time? I haven't figured it out. LMAO... And why in the world would you want to do that?? The point of it is to be used for ONE line at a time. This is Bus Time, not let's track every bus on Staten Island. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.