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Bustracker's buses


BusExpert32

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Looks like the new format of the Bus Tracker Map is up early, and I gave it a good try, and to me, it's kinda hard to use; you'd have to select your routes now (up to 10), not just view all of them like ants back in the past. There's also the new features, like you could zoom in and out of the map, and select whether or not you want the stops to be on the map as well. On the route progress map for a certain bus route, they made it bigger for better viewing I'm assuming, and added a small selection bar near the bottom when the bus route has a different beginning/ending point. And this may be a better connection for you bus fans who have laggy computers with Java, but surprisingly, I have the opposite! :huh: The Google version loads way longer for me rather than the former Java version.

Overall for some reason, I liked the former Java version better than the current version. What do you think?

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Or now :lol: , for me that is; some #8 Halsted's are out there, like 1692.

Yes I just noticed that tonight too. I wondered if Kedzie's been up all day because I could have used Bustracker for the 12 Roosevelt earlier today. However, my both stops I use going and coming from work are timepoints on the schedule so I haven't had problems knowing when the bus is coming. Since the service enhancements, the Roosevelt bus has been only a few (no more than 5) minutes off schedule plus or minus whenever I needed to use it.

One thing I like about the new map is that you can point the mouse on a stop along the route and it will show you the next 4 buses approaching that stop without going to a separate screen just like Kevin reported earlier. It will also tell you which terminal that the bus is going to if it has more than one for that time frame or if the bus is a short run to its respective garage. When you point to the bus icon it shows you its next four stops the bus is approaching and the termination point for that direction. Also if it's a time when the last trips are those to the garage, all the stops beyond the garage disappear from the map, and the only portion of the route map shown is that before arriving at the garage. I saw this with the 126 final westbound garage runs. If the route isn't in service at that point, its stops will display no service scheduled when you point the mouse on them. These are good enhancements over the old map where it was hard to tell on the route progress portion those buses were garage short runs and which ones were making a full trip.

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Looks like the new format of the Bus Tracker Map is up early, and I gave it a good try, and to me, it's kinda hard to use; you'd have to select your routes now (up to 10), not just view all of them like ants back in the past. There's also the new features, like you could zoom in and out of the map, and select whether or not you want the stops to be on the map as well. On the route progress map for a certain bus route, they made it bigger for better viewing I'm assuming, and added a small selection bar near the bottom when the bus route has a different beginning/ending point. And this may be a better connection for you bus fans who have laggy computers with Java, but surprisingly, I have the opposite!

I'm pretty happy with the new changes. The changes were you can pick routes and everything else is great but I liked the Java version of the map better, but yes, the map loads way better for me now.

It's nice to be able to view arrival data for a stop within the map. Previously this required having both the map and arrivals page open.

One thing I like about the new map is that you can point the mouse on a stop along the route and it will show you the next 4 buses approaching that stop without going to a separate screen just like Kevin reported earlier.

These are good enhancements over the old map where it was hard to tell on the route progress portion those buses were garage short runs and which ones were making a full trip.

Agreed.

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Here are a few observations I'm seeing with the Tracker this morning. First thing, 1730 has been returned to Kedzie. It's in service on the 12 Roosevelt. 126 has five hybrids in service at this hour: 800, 801, 804, 806 and 902. 146 has all NABIs in operation this morning. There's not one 40 footer (which would have to be a NF) is in service this route. All the buses showing for 148 are from Kedzie's first group of NFs, but if you click on one of the first few stops close to Ravenswood/Wilson 1706 (within 3 mins) and 1675 (within 20 mins) are set to start service. I'm inferring that 1706 must be close to or at the terminal and 1675 is making its way there as a northbound 145.

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I found a way to show the run ID and operator ID on the Route Progress display. Just as a way of playing with stuff.
How'd you get that? I know I keep missing mouseovers and the like, but the ones I get only show the following. Also, the route progress does have snapbacks, when the buses are on top of each other.

post-14-1216646218_thumb.jpg

P.S. The degree of magnification governs whether you see the bus number and route on the icon.

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The #129 West Loop/South Loop route was also scheduled to go on today, announced by the CTA a while back, but looks like they forgot to add it onto the public site! How smart! :P:lol:

I noticed that too. Perhaps they'll only be showing the PM rush trips which are operated by Kedzie. However, if that were the case they should have stated that because it's misleading with 129 being split between Archer (AM rush) and Kedzie (PM rush).

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The #129 West Loop/South Loop route was also scheduled to go on today, announced by the CTA a while back, but looks like they forgot to add it onto the public site! How smart! :P:lol:

It is on the route pulldown, at least as of this moment. Bus 6550 showing.

post-14-1216650827_thumb.jpg

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Besides the lack of buses on 55, when did Marquette Park become Tackington Park? Compare CTA and usual Google Maps displays.

This is due to the difference between the official Google Maps site and the Google Maps API for developers. For whatever reason, the API version is using an older (and apparently, inaccurate) map. If you zoom in on the map on the Garages page, you'll see the same issue.

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Well I looked at the new Google Bustracker map and it seemed to come up really quick. The old version was quick too once it loaded the first time, which only usually took about 10 seconds. I looked at 54A and saw there was a couple Flx's and an Optima Opus, so I think it works well :) Although there seemed to be a large gap between the buses with the Flx's at one end and the Opus at the other :unsure:

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Besides the lack of buses on 55, when did Marquette Park become Tackington Park? Compare CTA and usual Google Maps displays.

post-14-1216652370_thumb.jpg post-14-1216652430_thumb.jpg

Well actually, the west side of the park is named Tackington Park, but the name's on the wrong side of the park.

I found a way to show the run ID and operator ID on the Route Progress display. Just as a way of playing with stuff.

How'd you do it?

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