bwana Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 Sorry if this has been addressed elsewhere. I'm new to the forum but was unable to find the info via search. I'm looking at the Bus Tracker right now and I see bus number 1684 on route 7. Does that mean bus 1684 always runs on route 7 this time of day? Is there any consistency with the bus numbers, i.e. bus number X always run on route X? Do drivers ride in the same bus number each day? Also, if there isn't any consistency from day to day is there a way to find a given bus number at any point of the day using the API? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 Sorry if this has been addressed elsewhere. I'm new to the forum but was unable to find the info via search. I'm looking at the Bus Tracker right now and I see bus number 1684 on route 7. Does that mean bus 1684 always runs on route 7 this time of day? Is there any consistency with the bus numbers, i.e. bus number X always run on route X? Do drivers ride in the same bus number each day? Also, if there isn't any consistency from day to day is there a way to find a given bus number at any point of the day using the API? Thanks! No. The only consistency is that a particular run comes out of a particular garage (see the "Garages" tab). While at one time, a particular route was served only by one garage, that is no longer the case after the 2010 cutbacks. Someone who was a garage mechanic said here about 4 years ago, that a driver gets what's first in line. When the 5300 series Flxibles were still around, some drivers said in the forum that they were able to get a preference for them. Now that the fleet is pretty homogenous, I doubt that happens. There is, of course, the distinction whether a route gets articulateds, or in a case such as the traffic signal priority test on Western, whether the bus has the needed equipment. I guess your second question is if you put in, say fleet number "1735" instead of whatever is the bus stop code into a BusTracker app, whether you would get something. I guess someone like Kevin would have to answer that, based on the prior thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 Developers with API access can pull up information about a particular vehicle number. I can tell you that, as of this moment, 1684 is at 41.877 lat, -87.703 long on the 126 Jackson heading to Austin. I'm not aware of any public-facing applications that let you easily access this information. The developers license specifies that API data can only be used for "assisting mass transportation riders or in furtherance of promoting public transportation." I don't believe that building an app that lets enthusiasts find their favorite bus falls under that description. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 ..The developers license specifies that API data can only be used for "assisting mass transportation riders or in furtherance of promoting public transportation." I don't believe that building an app that lets enthusiasts find their favorite bus falls under that description. As far as only bus enthusiast's needs, I'm sure that's correct. However, I can see a " furtherance of promoting public transportation" use. The one applicable to CTA would be to make the political argument that routes served by 69th, later 74th garages were getting the old equipment. As I noted that the equipment is now more homogeneous, that's probably no longer the case for CTA. However, if one hypothetically substitutes Pace (realizing, of course, that the CTA API doesn't work there), some community group in Waukegan could use it to argue that "our school children are still subjected to riding on rust bucket 2337." Of course, BusExpert's inquiry if 2339 is still around, while perhaps made easier, would go to the bus enthusiast's point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Railwaymodeler Posted March 25, 2011 Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 However, if one hypothetically substitutes Pace (realizing, of course, that the CTA API doesn't work there), some community group in Waukegan could use it to argue that "our school children are still subjected to riding on rust bucket 2337." Of course, BusExpert's inquiry if 2339 is still around, while perhaps made easier, would go to the bus enthusiast's point. You mean "Roach Coach"? 2337 in particular, has a nasty cockroach infestation as well, hence its nickname! Just thought it funny that you used that particular unit as an example. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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