CTA Bus Tracker System Adds Bus Lines

By Tim State in News on Apr 5, 2008 9:06PM

#8 CTA Bus by Timothy State.

Beginning Monday, you’ll be able to log onto the Web through CTA Bus Tracker to determine the location of 13 more bus routes. The system uses GPS to track the exact locations of buses. There are two views available on the site - one predicting arrival time at a particular stops, the other displaying bus locations on a map. The CTA advises that the estimated arrival time will count down, unless there is a problem: “you may see the arrival predictions remain the same number of minutes or possibly increase, rather than count down, indicating that the bus is not moving.”

There is even a text-based site for mobile phones, which displays arrival times.

The No. 20 Madison route was the pilot route first available. These additional routes go live Monday:

• No. 35 – 35th
• No. 39 – Pershing
• No. 43 – 43rd
• No. 49 – Western
• No. X49 – Western Express
• No. 54B – South Cicero
• No. 55A – 55th/Austin
• No. 55N – 55th/Narragansett
• No. 62 – Archer
• No. 62H – Archer/Harlem
• No. 63W – West 63rd
• No. 94 – South California
• No. 165 – West 65th

We’re a little skeptical, though. Does this really help improve the level of service the CTA can provide?