Quick Question About the CTA L' Train Tracker

[Diesel S560]

Hi,

Does anyone know the vendor that the CTA uses for their real time train tracking data? I know that they use NextBus for their real time bus data but I'm not sure about the L' trains. Just curious.

[Busjack]

Hi,

Does anyone know the vendor that the CTA uses for their real time train tracking data? I know that they use NextBus for their real time bus data but I'm not sure about the L' trains. Just curious.

The Bus one appears to be BusTime, which is just a trade name for Clever Devices (see credit at bottom).

I don't know about the rapid transit, but it probably is a home brew. There doesn't seem to be a credit notice, as on Bus Tracker.

Metra has a similar Rail Tracker, again without any credit other than © Commuter Rail Division of the Regional Transportation Authority.

[Diesel S560]

The Bus one appears to be BusTime, which is just a trade name for Clever Devices (see credit at bottom).

bustracker.jpg

I don't know about the rapid transit, but it probably is a home brew. There doesn't seem to be a credit notice, as on Bus Tracker.

Metra has a similar Rail Tracker, again without any credit other than © Commuter Rail Division of the Regional Transportation Authority.

Oh ok I didn't know the train tracking info was more of an 'inside job' I guess that would be the case for NYC as well.

[Guest ctafan630]

While waiting for a train at the Merchandise Mart, train tracker showed a few puple lines trains with "see train" as the destination. This occured with both southbound and northbound trains. Anyone know what would have caused this?

[MTRSP1900-CTA3200]

While waiting for a train at the Merchandise Mart, train tracker showed a few puple lines trains with "see train" as the destination. This occured with both southbound and northbound trains. Anyone know what would have caused this?

Weird, I've only seen that on trains between Howard and Linden (I was looking at trains on the map).

I was also on the map watching a westbound Green Line train that stopped at Ridgeland for a while, announced it was delayed for Harlem and Oak Park, disappeared for a few minutes, then reappeared and went to Harlem like normal.

[artthouwill]

While waiting for a train at the Merchandise Mart, train tracker showed a few puple lines trains with "see train" as the destination. This occured with both southbound and northbound trains. Anyone know what would have caused this?

This is only a wild guess. If you were on the NB platform, trains circling the Loop may not have changed signs from Loop to Linden or Howard, possibly conjuring up those signs. Or if this was in the morning rush, there could be a Ravenston train or two that comes in as a Brown and leaves as a Brown to Belmont then express to Howard. I don't know if the Ravenstons carry a Brown Line run number or a Purple Line number.. Then again it could be just a good old system glitch.

[Guest ctafan630]

This is only a wild guess. If you were on the NB platform, trains circling the Loop may not have changed signs from Loop to Linden or Howard, possibly conjuring up those signs. Or if this was in the morning rush, there could be a Ravenston train or two that comes in as a Brown and leaves as a Brown to Belmont then express to Howard. I don't know if the Ravenstons carry a Brown Line run number or a Purple Line number.. Then again it could be just a good old system glitch.

I was waiting for a SB brown line train around 5pm when I saw the notice on the station train tracker displays. My guess is that it was a system glitch because I also saw the NB display with the same reading on one of the run numbers.

[MetroShadow]

Oh ok I didn't know the train tracking info was more of an 'inside job' I guess that would be the case for NYC as well.

NYC's system was an eventual rollout, once shifted from planning and street crews to the general public. Ours is...a waiting game.

[Guest ctafan630]

I was waiting at Harlem (Northwest Side) for a Blue line train to the loop this morning. Train tracker displayed a wait time of 15 minutes for one of the trains. However there was an asterisk next to the wait time. Does any one know what the asterisk represents? It did disappear after a few minutes.

[TripleTransit1]

I was waiting at Harlem (Northwest Side) for a Blue line train to the loop this morning. Train tracker displayed a wait time of 15 minutes for one of the trains. However there was an asterisk next to the wait time. Does any one know what the asterisk represents? It did disappear after a few minutes.

This (*) means when the next train is scheduled to arrive at or depart from a station. This mainly occurs at CTA rail terminals.

[Chicagos_D]

I saw a 6 car set of 2600 which I thought was on the Brownage run. When I looked into the train's schedule it switch from Loop at Merchadise Mart to Linden at Washington/Wells. I thought this was wrong so I tracked the train's progress throughout the loop and sure enough on the outer loop was a purple line from Washington/Wells to Clark/Lake going to Linden. Does anybody know if they are actually creating another hybrid run or was this an actual error in the train tracker?

[MTRSP1900-CTA3200]

I was waiting at Harlem (Northwest Side) for a Blue line train to the loop this morning. Train tracker displayed a wait time of 15 minutes for one of the trains. However there was an asterisk next to the wait time. Does any one know what the asterisk represents? It did disappear after a few minutes.

This (*) means when the next train is scheduled to arrive at or depart from a station. This mainly occurs at CTA rail terminals.

This happens at Ridgeland and Oak Park for Loop bound trains a lot too because they are close to Harlem (Green Line). In your case, Harlem (Blue Line O'Hare) was only a few stops away from the terminal too.

[Guest ctafan630]

This happens at Ridgeland and Oak Park for Loop bound trains a lot too because they are close to Harlem (Green Line). In your case, Harlem (Blue Line O'Hare) was only a few stops away from the terminal too.

Weird that they need to have this noted with a (*). The train tracker times are just estimates anyway.

[BusHunter]

Weird that they need to have this noted with a (*). The train tracker times are just estimates anyway.

Yeah they do that when your train has not left the terminal. (put an asterisk) O'hare on the blue line is 10 minutes from Harlem so there wasn't a train scheduled for another 5 minutes. I see this sometimes at South Blvd when the trains are running late.