jctim Posted November 4, 2005 Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 Does anyone know if the CTA is planning to implement a GPS tracking system to provide riders with real time information on when the next bus is arriving? I know the technology exists and has been used in Japan for years. Many bus stops in Japan actually have an electronic sign at each stop which announces when the next bus will arrive. Probably wouldn't be able to do that here because of vandals. It would be great to be able to access realtime info via on the web via my cell phone or even by just calling in. Aren't the in-bus announcements triggered by GPS? I usually avoid riding the bus because its so unpredictable on busy routes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted November 4, 2005 Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 CTA has the Clever Devices equipment, but has only said that they were going to start an experiment on 20 Madison with regard to using it for service control. Pace has WebWatch, but, as indicated in Webwatch, a half-hearted endeavor, the question was whether it was effective, and it is now down. Ask Carole had a thread on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Posted November 4, 2005 Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 All CTA buses currently have GPS. This information allows the control center to track the location of buses and also allows for the functionality of the announcement system. The CTA is currently working with the RTA to install electronic signs at a few bus stops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jctim Posted November 4, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 All CTA buses currently have GPS. This information allows the control center to track the location of buses and also allows for the functionality of the announcement system. The CTA is currently working with the RTA to install electronic signs at a few bus stops. If the control center has the ability to track the location of buses then why can't they tell me when the next bus will approximately arrive? When I call the RTA phone number, it says that they are able to provide schedule info only, not real-time info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trainman8119 Posted November 4, 2005 Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 Be careful when dealing with the Travel Information System at the RTA. Although the information is technically correct, it is not always the most efficient information available. Example: When the RTA proposed the system to Pace at their board meeting some 6 years ago, they used an example of a rider boarding at Woodfield at xx time. The system advised the rider to board the then 209 bus and exit at Algonquin road then walk the 1/2 mile to Pace headquarters. The Pace Board of Directors was sooooo impressed, all of the information calls then became routed to the RTA Travel Information Center. The only problem with the example was that the 606 which left about 3 minutes after the 209 would take the passenger to the Pace Headquarters door...probably flying past the poor guy walking the 1/2 mile to their destination as he was crossing Algonquin Road at Golf Road. There are many, many examples of this. There was a lot of work put into this system, I know the man who designed the program. It was many 20 hour days for years to get it going. It is just that the people answering the phones have no concept of the info they are giving out and are told not to give any info that is not displayed on their screen, whether it is correct or not...and many times there may be a better alternative to the info they are giving out. Pace, CTA and RTA are in separate areas, different buildings. There are no current links between the 3 other than a phone call from one information center to another...should someone want to go that far, which is usually doubtful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted November 4, 2005 Report Share Posted November 4, 2005 I think that RTA announced that the real time capability existed, but not that it was implemented. Trainman, you might be confusing the RTA trip planner with the gps system, and the only implemented real time system was WebWatch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted January 31, 2006 Report Share Posted January 31, 2006 The Sun Times had an article today, CTA riders soon can track buses on Web, which confirms that all that is planned is a test on 20 Madison. Apparently while Pace has tracking, passenger count, announcements, and emergency calls in one system (Siemens), CTA is using separate systems for each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Posted January 31, 2006 Report Share Posted January 31, 2006 This new system for CTA sounds good. Hopefully it will work well, unlike that joke of a service Pace tried out that just spit out what was on the schedules. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 The Tribune's 24-hour newsroom link had a story tonight on Pace not meeting on-time goals.The significant difference now is because of Pace's new Intelligent Bus System, which relies on GPS data to give it information on many more bus trips. For example, relying on random checks in 2004, Pace received on-time data for about 18,000 trips. But with the new satellite system data in use in 2005, the agency received information on 9.5 million trips. "We've got a different measuring stick here, and we're measuring it differently," said Pace Executive Director T.J. Ross. With regard to the CTA's comparable project, the Tribune said:The information comes at a time when Chicago Transit Authority Chairwoman Carole Brown is calling for the CTA to put performance measures, including on-time data, on its Web site so riders can see how the agency is doing. But CTA President Frank Kruesi is hesitant to do so because he wants to know how the agency defines "on time."So it is like quantum physics ... how you measure affects the result. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trainman8119 Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 I contend these jokers are just going way too high tech. Put a bus on the street, put a guy in a van to make sure he is on the street and moving and be done with it. You know, for years and years, buses moved without all the bells and whistles and the service was more reliable. I mean, does the CTA really need to spend 25 million to put more garbage out there that they can't decide how to report !!!! Put the bucks towards more service instead of that tracking garbage (and then not agree on how to track it...which means it doesn't do the job it is suppose to). Arrrrgghhhh...this stuff really aggrevates me !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted February 2, 2006 Report Share Posted February 2, 2006 I think that the Pace statistics may be overblown by those buses that run a bit ahead of a timepoint. I always assumed that one should be at the bus stop at least five minutes ahead of the schedule. The real problem with the CTA is that for at least 35 years that I know of, it has been unable to do anything about bus bunching or scheduling equipment when it is needed. When you complain, the usual answer is that the "supervisor of that route" has been notified, but has that "guy in the van" ever done anything? The problem may now be more aggravating, in that while a bunch is still three buses, the schedule interval has increased from 3-5 minutes to 10-20. Also, on the south side, an articulated may be bunched among 40 footers. Instead of curing the bus bunching, I foresee a sign at a bus stop on Madison saying that the next bus will appear in 25 minutes (with 4 of them having the same estimated time of arrival). One would hope that the high tech would avoid the problem, but knowing CTA, I wouldn't bet on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted February 23, 2006 Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 Pace announced in Moving into the Future that it has a grant for a Transit Operations Decision Support System (TODSS), which would enhance the Intelligent Bus System to "automatically determine the best course of action to minimize the service interruption." Pace says that this is the first in the nation, but given CTA's service control problems, it should have pursued it.:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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