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WebWatch might be better


Busjack

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Which division is operating it....bus 6619 at 3:50 pm

Would be North Shore, as busfan2847 indicated that the Pace site stated.

However, I assume you are reporting on a physical sighting (I haven't had a chance yet), since

  • Webwatch doesn't show anything at the moment, nor did it this morning.
  • The usual buses that show up on WebWatch for route 619 are 6649 and 6676, which at the moment are North Shore buses.
  • 6619 was seen on WebWatch at South a couple of days ago.

Hence, one assumes that 6619 was swapped again, but not yet programmed.

Update: 6619 just showed up on 357, and is moving toward Ford Heights. It might be a total ghost, but are you sure about the number you saw? Maybe it was 6616, which is at NS.

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What irks me about WebWatch is that it's predictions are really nothing more than the time points, it will only update itself by the minute if the next bus due is running late before it gets to that time point...not early on in the route like CTAs does. Additionally, if you click to display the minor corners and click those it does nothing more than spit out the time from the previous time point. In other words, if the westbound 208 is due at Church/McCormick at 5:08 pm but you're at Church and Skokie Blvd., it will tell you it will be there at 5:08 pm. Obviously, this wouldn't be so, which means it isn't "real time" predictions after all.

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  • 4 weeks later...

That wouldn't be a problem because all the buses "filling in" the 606 have been logging into the IBS using the garage code for Academy, which is "575" and the run number. Therefore, the buses have been showing up on Webwatch. ...

As I noted in the Academy topic, some transferred buses don't show up on WebWatch for a while. Similarly, a bus on route 619 shows up somes time on WebWatch, and other times it doesn't. Of course, one time I tried to track it down physically, and it didn't show up in DesPlaines at 6:20 p.m. as scheduled. I figure that it didn't make the last trip empty.

Maybe Pace 834 can explain what it means that South Holland has to reprogram the buses before they are transferred.

Thanks.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 year later...

Today's Moving Forward, besides announcing the Real Time Arrival Sign system, add that "The accuracy of the predictions on Pace’s WebWatch system– which will power the new signs– will be even better once a new, state-funded radio system goes online in 2013 because it will provide WebWatch with more frequent updates of bus locations." Maybe that will get rid of the ghost buses.

It also mentions having QR codes on the bus shelters, in addition to a text system simlar to CTA's. Are the QR codes really going to help?

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  • 4 months later...

Doesn't look functional yet, but from what's on the What's New page, the url has changed to http://tmweb.pacebus.com/TMWebWatch/. However, the other one redirects.

Interestingly enough, they'll have the Pace special event express routes be part of the drop down list of routes when they have it up and running. That's a switch over CTA only listing the 19 from its special event express routes on its BusTracker map list. They didn't update the 353 map though to reflect that it runs express now north of 130th Street, but I did get arrival times for stops display on the map even though they don't appear to have the bus location displays running yet.

UPDATE: I took another look and apparently the way the new pull down list works is that the route is listed if that route has service on that day and/or at the time you click for it. And apparently all the Soldier Field Express Pace routes are showing because there is some event going on at Soldier Field today. Can't be a game as the Bears got knocked out of any chance in the playoffs. The 237 one from Schaumburg gets an error message for a map trace but the three major stops for it do appear on the map. The Bing map options still has bugs as it sends you an error message wanting you to do some form of registration for Bing Maps though you do get a map for routes shown albeit with no ability for you to click on any map icons.

Edited by jajuan
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Checked it out just now. Interface looks nicer. Real question to me is, certain units didn't show on WebBotch. 2423 would not show, and I think one or two others. Wonder if that is fixed too?

Interestingly, the "Transitmaster" name is the name for the Siemen's IBS system. I thought they were replacing these? Unless Siemens still makes a Transitmaster system, and the new system is also by them.

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In reverse order:

  • It hasn't been Siemens for quite a while now. It was Continental (as in tire) for a while, then Trapeze. The formal name is Trapeze Intelligent Transportation Systems Transitmaster WebWatch.
  • As far as one can assume, this fixes only the server. No indication that it fixes bad units in buses, bad radios (see the Pace budget on that), or bad logins.
  • Pace always had the special event routes on it.
  • In that the pulldown indicates only routes working that day seems inconsistent. For instance, out of 421-423, only 422 is up, apparently for the UPS run at 2 a.m.. However, 471 and 472 are on the pulldown, even though clicking on any stop indicates no arrivals or departures. Similarly, 213 and 215 are both on the pulldown, but only 215 has service on Sunday. We'll have to see if the missing routes show up tomorrow.
  • Soldier Field may be a data error problem, in that there are arrival times, but no buses to arrive at the indicated time (5:45).

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Finally, I find the "push pins" for the major stops really distracting, and it doesn't seem to have the "zoom out to click on all buses at once" ability the past maps had.

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  • In that the pulldown indicates only routes working that day seems inconsistent. For instance, out of 421-423, only 422 is up, apparently for the UPS run at 2 a.m.. However, 471 and 472 are on the pulldown, even though clicking on any stop indicates no arrivals or departures. Similarly, 213 and 215 are both on the pulldown, but only 215 has service on Sunday. We'll have to see if the missing routes show up tomorrow.
  • Soldier Field may be a data error problem, in that there are arrival times, but no buses to arrive at the indicated time (5:45).

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I only did a cursory glance, so I didn't catch the 213 issue or that with the 420s or 470s. In fact 213 doesn't show up on the pulldown now. I just noticed that routes that I remembered off hand had no Sunday service weren't on the pulldown and made the connection that they apparently don't list routes with no work on a given day. And I had a feeling there was some fluke going on with the Soldier Field routes because (1) I hadn't heard of any events going on today at Soldier Field, (2) I found it odd CTA wouldn't have the 128 in operation while Pace was giving Soldier Field service (no CTA notice the route would be running given it doesn't show on BusTracker as far as I recall), and (3) one of the 700-numbered Soldier Field routes, can't remember which, was showing times for shortly after midnight at one point. What kind of event could possibly be occurring at Soldier Field that starts at 2 PM (earliest arrival time I saw for any of the three Soldier Field routes) and go till after midnight?

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I only did a cursory glance, so I didn't catch the 213 issue or that with the 420s or 470s. In fact 213 doesn't show up on the pulldown now. ...

Looking now, the ones I noted at 5:35 (I don't know how the reply was time stamped 11:35) aren't there now.

However, several Joliet routes are there, but there is not any Sunday service in Joliet.

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For what it's worth, the MDTs don't have any name on them, other than just "Transitmaster", but the manual to the IBS system, which I have, does say Siemens on it I believe. I did not know the system had been sold, transfered, whatever may be the case.

The tip-off was the changing copyright notices on the website. However, I haven't found one on this iteration.

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Webwatch seems to be having problems again. I can't seem to get any bus information to refresh. For instance #319, is showing service right now, when it doesn't run on Sunday and the same buses are in the same position as Friday's rush. Someone waiting for a bus could be really confused by this.

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Webwatch seems to be having problems again. I can't seem to get any bus information to refresh. For instance #319, is showing service right now, when it doesn't run on Sunday and the same buses are in the same position as Friday's rush. Someone waiting for a bus could be really confused by this.

Seems their upgrades came with plenty of computer bugs. It's not just the 319. They have several routes that have no service on Sundays showing buses on the street. And a lot of those that we do know have Sunday service are showing more buses than are supposed to be on the street for those routes on a Sunday.

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Seems their upgrades came with plenty of computer bugs. It's not just the 319. They have several routes that have no service on Sundays showing buses on the street. And a lot of those that we do know have Sunday service are showing more buses than are supposed to be on the street for those routes on a Sunday.

That's got to be Friday's rush. #6345 has not moved from the #330 at Lake/Mannheim for 3 days!! :lol:

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That's got to be Friday's rush. #6345 has not moved from the #330 at Lake/Mannheim for 3 days!! :lol:

I noticed the same on other weekday rush hour routes.

However, you found a new bus in service.:lol:

And featuring bike (probably bike rack) doesn't make it unique.

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Also, based on this one, and 421 still having a bus, I would say that it died on some weekday at 4:45 p.m. (the other bus being 6265, which is the normal pattern at that time).

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UPDATE: I took another look and apparently the way the new pull down list works is that the route is listed if that route has service on that day and/or at the time you click for it.

After two weeks, that no longer appears to be the case. Maybe it was only a partial data load the first Sunday, and was frozen last weekend, but it is working now with all routes on the pull down.

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After various internal errors resulting in no routes found, and my having run into an error of a route resulting in "unable to find stops," I see that there is a generic statement at the top of the WebWatch page "During the ongoing upgrade of WebWatch, the system is intermittently unavailable."

I guess the upgrade wasn't so great.

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