Results tagged “bustracker”

We admit it: the CTA has done something right recently with the advent of Bustracker, a service that keeps getting better. In the latest update, besides adding 20 stops, starting Monday, riders will have a new email/text alert option. Per the CTA press release: "Beginning Monday, May 18, CTA customers can sign up to receive customized scheduled e-mails that will provide estimated times for the next buses arriving at a customer’s preferred bus stop(s). Information can be sent to both a customer’s e-mail address and mobile device as a text message." Check out more information, as well as the new list of buses added to the Bustracker system, here. According to the CTA, only four routes are not included in the Bustracker: the #19 United Center Express, #X98 Avon Express, #128 Soldier Field Express and #154 Wrigley Field Express.

Because the CTA Bus Tracker website is not the easiest to use on a mobile device, such as an iPhone, when you're on the go, the folks over at Ars Technica have compiled a good breakdown of the two iPhone apps that use data from the CTA's website to help you find that bus stop or track a bus' arrival time. The apps, Buster and CTA Tracker, are both priced at 99 cents at the iTunes App Store. Neither was developed by the CTA.

The CTA bus tracking system will be expanded tomorrow, and with this enhancement will come a new service alerting riders to service disruptions at specific stops, or along routes. The alerts will work with Internet-enabled phones or desktop technology for people plugged into the net.

• A white supremacist/Satanist in Muncie has been sentenced to a year in jail for biting a boy.
• The CTA is adding 24 more routes to it's Bus Tracker program.
• Looks like a plan at O'Hare could wind up forcing several airlines to relocate from their current terminal positions.

It seems there are a lot of Norwegians coming to town or there are lots of public transit enthusiasts. It seems Norway ranks first in total hits from foreign countries for the CTA's website, having registered 15,395 hits on the CTA's bus tracker website from the country over the last year. But why? Tourism plans, sure. Maybe they're researching the home city of President-Elect Barack Obama, who's considered a "celebrity" in Eruope. Or, perhaps, they're trying to steal our secrets. Whatever the case, it seems the visits are intentional.

But it doesn't appear that most of those 15,000-plus Norwegian folks happened along to the Bus Tracker site by accident because 75 percent of them clicked through to visit other pages on the CTA Web site and spent more than 18 minutes there before moving on, officials said. "Many people just like to watch buses on their computer, even if they are not planning a trip," CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney said.

Enthusiasts just watching mass transit systems? Hmmm. Sounds familiar. Filipinos spent the longest average time on the site at 32 minutes, which is usually how long we have to wait for the North Ave. bus. ZING!

Meanwhile, those plans for bus-only lines that were left for dead after last week's federal grant deadline snafu may still yet have some life. After a weekend meeting with outgoing U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, Mayor Daley said, "They're going to put this on hold so the next administration can deal with it." The odds are good, then, that something will come of this, given that the new Transportation Secretary-designate is Ray LaHood of Peoria. What would the $153 million grant get us?

The grant would allow the CTA to build and equip bus lines on four corridors -- 79th Street, Jeffery Boulevard, Halsted Street and Chicago Avenue. All would get rapid transit-style stations that include fare pre-payment areas, high-tech signals and bus-only lanes to speed service.

Sounds good. But, are wrong or does it seem like there are a few other routes (like Western) that may benefit more from such an upgrade?

On Saturday, a select group of CTA Tattlers sat down for coffee with CTA President Ron Huberman to discuss the state of the CTA. This morning, CTA Tattler posted the first report from their meeting with Huberman, covering the various bus initiatives that were discussed on Saturday. During the meeting, Huberman also told the tattlers that the GPS Bus Tracker pilot program will be expanding to 20 new bus routes, which will be announced this morning.