The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (NY) continues to expand its Bus Time real-time information system. A few months after equipping all Staten Island bus routes with the arrival-prediction service, the MTA will add Bus Time to its M34/M34A Select Bus Service crosstown bus route. The open-source application will replace the pilot system originally tested on this bus rapid transit route. “We’re bringing Bus Time to 34th Street to replace the original pilot developed by technology firm Clever Devices,” said Darryl Irick, president of MTA Bus and senior vice president of NYC Transit’s Department of Buses in a statement. “However, unlike the previous pilot, the new system was developed in-house by the MTA at a fraction of the cost and allows us to expand Bus Time to more routes more quickly.” With the transition to Bus Time, effective April 8, the countdown clocks at the bus shelters will no longer be available.
For the Staten Island deployment, the MTA reports that Bus Time is currently serving an average of 12,000 requests per day. The total comprises 7,700 SMS text message inquiries, 3,800 requests from desktop users, and 500 requests from mobile web users. Data requests from users of third party apps that use Bus Time data are not included in the total.
Photo credit: Susan Mara Bregman
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