The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority continued its efforts to engage with developer community by releasing real-time data for 12 additional bus routes. This caps what outgoing MassDOT official Chris Dempsey called “an incredibly successful year,” which started when the state released MBTA static route and schedule data last summer. Thanks to a series of developer challenges, and a pilot test of real-time data for five routes, MBTA customers now can choose from about a dozen applications that offer route and schedule information and — in some cases — real-time arrival predictions.
“We’re trying to make buses cool,” said new MBTA general manager Richard Davey. “We’re trying to make buses sexy.” Speaking at a developers conference in Cambridge Thursday night, Davey said that the MBTA used to be reluctant to share real-time information with customers. “We need to be a lot more open and frank,” he told the group. The 17 routes for which real-time info is now available serve about a third of the system’s bus customers. Working in partnership with NextBus, the MBTA will share arrival prediction data for all 185 bus routes by the end of the summer.
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