Webwatch, a half-hearted endeavor

[westing]

Webwatch could be a great tool to locate the arrival of the next bus but it fails. The service is very unreliable. It was down for an entire day this week. The information it pulls for each route is nothing more than estimated times based of the timing points listed on any paper schedule.

Just the other day I was waiting for a 385. By the time I got to the stop, the bus was late by 5 minutes. After 8 more minutes I had a friend check the scheduled time the next bus would arrive. Lo and behold, Webwatch said I missed the bus yet what was that bus doing there about 3 blocks down?

I wish Pace would care more about this service. A disclaimer at the bottom of the page reads, “Pace Suburban Bus welcomes the opportunity to promote its activities to the public.” Thus, according to Pace, riders are privileged and not entitled to the kind of service.

Riders in other cities like San Francisco's muni have better systems (MUNI uses myNEXTBus for their streetcars and a few bus routes). Look at their system and then look at Pace’s, no comparison.

If anything, Pace should take Webwatch down until it works, or advertise it as a comprehensive schedule finder and noting more.

Does anyone actually use Webwatch or find it beneficial?

[Busjack]

I've seen a few times when the estimated time was a minute or 2 off the schedule. However, what bothers me about it is that it takes so long for the pull downs to load that the bus could go by before you get to the arrival time screens.

[Busjack]

Pace just announced on its WebWatch site http://gis.pacebus.com/WebWatch/:

The Webwatch demonstration project has ended.

Look for the new Webwatch site in the near future.

[Busjack]

The Pace home page indicates WebWatch is back. I tried it for Route 422, and indicated that the one scheduled to be at 10:52 at the Northbrook Metra will arrive at 11:17. The next two scheduled arrivals are at 12:10 and 1:10.

Update: It is blowing smoke. I noted on Saturday that it appears that the future projections are based on the weekday schedule, not the Saturday one. I tried it again on Monday and got the same results: i.e. the 11:07 scheduled trip will arrive at 11:17, followed by the 12:10. Those have to be based on some hypothetical schedule, since the 11:17 "arrival" would have left the terminal at Linden at about the time I made the Monday inquiry.

[pace]

Webwatch

Here is a link to Webwatch map where you can view all pace vehicle numbers on each route -

(some do not work at all) SVG VIEWER NEEDED

If the link does not work go to pacebus.com- click on webwatch- and then in the address bar next to the slash type (map.aspx)

Let me know if it works

[Busjack]

{edited}

1. Apparently you found the underlying url, even though the link is not on the Webwatch site. However, it does not show the vehicle numbers, just an image of a bus on the route. {corrected below}

2. Being familiar with Route 422, it still has the problem that I noted earlier--the map does not reflect the 2005 restructuring, and there is no route west of Old Orchard.

Also, BTW, the svg viewer only downloads for Internet Explorer, not Firefox.

Also here is a reference to jesi's post about when the link to the map disappeared.

[pace]

It does show the vehicle number if you move your mouse over to the bus. Also there used to be a link on the website but its not there anymore

[Busjack]

It does show the vehicle number if you move your mouse over to the bus.

You are right about that. I guess we don't have to leave our seats to see where the missing bus is (except that many of the contractor routes are not on the pulldown; and even some, like 411-412-413 or 696-699 say "Map Not Found").

I see that 2702 is on the 714 map, so that question is answered. I also (virtually) saw 6682 in Waukegan.

[pace]

Sometimes you can see where the bus goes on the map for ex. if it is going to the garage you can still see the vehicle moving until it gets there. Look for buses changing into different routes. I wonder if it works on cell phones?

[pace]

I think Waukegan only has 6602, 6603, 6682, and 6684 is the last one between 6600-6684

[Busjack]

They had 6600-6603 for the start of the 680s service. (I personally saw all except 6601.) Again, if there were subsequent swaps, I don't know. As our friend at Academy noted, it has 6604-6612.

It does seem from the posts that the 6600s are pretty much out of North Shore.

[pace]

Does HP use 6600s or just 2600s, because 6677 and 6678 are at south so what happen to 6679

[Busjack]

Does HP use 6600s or just 2600s, because 6677 and 6678 are at south so what happen to 6679

6679 was hanging around because 2635 was in the accident on the Tollway when it was being delivered. However, I don't know if 6679 later moved or not.

Everything else at Highland Park consists of 2632-2639 (apparently except 2635).

[Buslover88]

Right now, Webwatch is down. So much for it being effective .

[Busjack]

Right now, Webwatch is down. So much for it being effective .

Yeah, I saw that and was about ready to say that we (pace, you and me) broke it.

I also noted that some buses didn't appear where I expected them (and Monday one flew off the radar). I wonder if that was a communications problem, a server problem, or some drivers didn't log into the IBS.

Another weird thing: I found in the Adobe SVG viewer package how to install it in Firefox, but then only got a parsing error. I also found on the web SVG Viewer version 6, but that kept getting object errors when used in this application. Hence my conclusion is that (when available) it only works with SVG Viewer 3.0 and Internet Explorer.

[pace]

Sometimes webwatch does that mostly because their trying to fix the maps that don't work or readjust the ones that do, but don't worry you'll just have to wait for a couple of hours ( by late tonight or sooner it should be back online)

[Buslover88]

Yeah, I saw that and was about ready to say that we (pace, you and me) broke it.

Today was my very first time viewing Webwatch (for the map at least). I also found it be very strange before it stopped working.

[nextstopchicago]

What's the latest PACE bus run? Since I don't live in the suburbs, I don't have much of a need to really use it. So I don't think of it till I log in here, and that's usually pretty late in the evening, at which point, most (or maybe all) PACE routes have stopped operating. What route would give me the chance to see it latest in the evening?

[trainman8119]

What's the latest PACE bus run? Since I don't live in the suburbs, I don't have much of a need to really use it. So I don't think of it till I log in here, and that's usually pretty late in the evening, at which point, most (or maybe all) PACE routes have stopped operating. What route would give me the chance to see it latest in the evening?

To the North, try 208 and 250. To the South, try 352 and 349. To the West 309, 307, 332.

[nextstopchicago]

To the North, try 208 and 250. To the South, try 352 and 349. To the West 309, 307, 332.

Thanks!

Sadly, "The system is unavailable at this time. Please come back later."

I'll try those routes tomorrow or sometime soon.

[qwantae]

What's the latest PACE bus run? Since I don't live in the suburbs, I don't have much of a need to really use it. So I don't think of it till I log in here, and that's usually pretty late in the evening, at which point, most (or maybe all) PACE routes have stopped operating. What route would give me the chance to see it latest in the evening?

South: 349, 352, 353, 359, 395, 397, 891, 892

Southwest: 381, 390

West: 318, 322 between 54/ Cermak- N. Riverside, 303, 307, 308, 309, 391,392, 393, 394

Northwest: 223, 250, 270, 290.

North Shore: 215

North: 568, 565

Academy: 606

All UPS Routes.

[Busjack]

For North Shore it depends how you define last. If Owl belongs to the previous day, the 2AM 422 would be the last from North Shore. Of course, you might have included it as a UPS route, as the only reason it runs is UPS on Shermer Road.

And if Doomsday comes, the last bus will be at 7 PM.

Actually, having experimented with WebWatch, which is back up, the only good times are during the rush hour. For instance, 8 a.m. is too late to see what is on the South Division feeder routes.

[pace]

Yep, the best time to view the map is rush hour, but sometimes the buses that are suppose to be on the map aren't

[nextstopchicago]

Thanks for the tips. I looked at it tonight. I have to say that as of right now, the CTA's interface is much easier, faster and less resource intensive. Still, it's pretty cool. And who knows -- once CTA goes live on more than one route, there interface may slow down as thousands of people begin pounding the servers. I hope they've got the bandwidth and server power.

The PACE site seems like a great start.

[Busjack]

Thanks for the tips. I looked at it tonight. I have to say that as of right now, the CTA's interface is much easier, faster and less resource intensive. ...

The PACE site seems like a great start.

I question the first, since any time the CTA map has to regenerate, the java freezes my computer for several minutes. The only time I have slow response on the Pace site is when there are a lot of svg elements to generate, such as on route 272, where the map tries to generate everything in 2 counties.

I agree that the Pace map is a great start considering that the mouse overs also include the next three departure times at some points. However, they have to fix some of the maps, and fill in the missing ones.

Too bad that this is the second time that I didn't realize that a mouse over an icon meant something (the other was Google Street View).