Detroit bus riders can use text service for real-time arrivals

**downtownguy** · September-05-12, 08:14 AM

Freep Article:
Detroit bus riders can use text service for real-time arrivals

Has anybody tried this yet? Did it work? I just tested it, and didn't get anything. They say some cell carriers block short codes. I don't know what that means. I tried it with my Boost phone and also a Google Voice number.

Seems like a great service... if it works.

DDOT has a brochure on it here: http://71.159.22.28/Portals/0/docs/d...Broch2_5_3.pdf

**kenp** · September-05-12, 08:19 AM

I heard about this on WWJ yesterday. Suprisingly the people interviewed on WWJ and promoting this were the Detroit Police.

**antongast** · September-05-12, 09:01 AM

I've been using it. The "text back letters for different routes" thing is kind of clunky, especially on my crappy phone, but I almost always get useful results in the end.

**cla1945** · September-05-12, 09:17 AM

I wonder how this works, especially when they can't get the computers to work in Police cars. Priorities in Detroit astound me.

**getmoore** · September-05-12, 10:02 AM

OMG!! This actually works!!!!!

**jpbollma** · September-05-12, 10:15 AM

Originally Posted by getmoore

OMG!! This actually works!!!!!

lol, I tried it as well. Astonishing...it actually works!

**downtownguy** · September-05-12, 11:11 AM

After a call to my cell service provider, I learned that, indeed, they don't support short codes. After a bit of googling, I also learned that Google Voice doesn't support short codes.

I also called DDOT customer service and got a helpful and sympathetic representative that told me she has the same problem with her service provider. After conferring with a supervisor, she said DDOT is contacting these service providers and asking them to not block short codes on this service.

So, now I know more about short codes than I did when I posted the article, but I am not optimistic that service providers are going to make an exception for DDOT. I wonder how hard it would be to have an alternate 10 digit code, and/or to extend the service to a website?

**trotwood** · September-05-12, 02:07 PM

I was waiting for a bus at Woodward&Warren a couple of months ago[[early July)&a young man from DDOT was passing fliers out promoting this service. He explained how the system works. There were at least 1/2 dozen school kids in the shelter. I asked two of the young women to give it a try&let us know what they thought of the service. They each got a text saying the next north bound Woodward bus would be coming in about seven minutes.......twenty+minutes later the bus still hadn't shown up.

**wolverine** · September-05-12, 07:35 PM

I'm serious when I say someone should be fired for taking 6 years to roll out technology that is ubiquitous in the United States. In fact, the "text to track" systems are already becoming obsolete in large cities.

**stasu1213** · September-06-12, 05:25 PM

Nice but I wish that the money could had been used for more busses on the line

**wolverine** · September-06-12, 07:38 PM

Originally Posted by stasu1213

Nice but I wish that the money could had been used for more busses on the line

I don't think that money would get you much of anything. Personally I think Good service always trumps adding more service. If upgrading technology and customer safety means trimming service, then that's what needs to happen. Detroit's system can't be stuck in the last century.

**313WX** · September-06-12, 07:45 PM

Originally Posted by stasu1213

Nice but I wish that the money could had been used for more busses on the line

Agreed. trotwood also summed it up well.

They can put up all the smoke and mirrors they please. It still doesn't change the fact that DDOT is an embarrassing mass transit system for a first world major city [[heck, every municipal service in the city of Detroit other than Parking Enforcement and maybe Garbage Pick-Up is embarrassing by first-world standards).

**Cooper** · September-06-12, 08:26 PM

Originally Posted by stasu1213

Nice but I wish that the money could had been used for more busses on the line

The TextMyBus service was developed by an independent non-profit, not DDOT, so it's silly to gripe about how the funding was spent. This was a project developed by the Detroit fellows from Code for America, an organization that pairs web developers and programmers with cities for one-year fellowships. I think they did a fabulous job, and at no initial cost to DDOT except some staff time, although I'm guessing DDOT will have to foot the bill for all the texts received.

Yes, I'd love it if DDOT had more buses and was more reliable, period, but at least now we can get real-time information on when the next bus might come. [[And it should be accurate -- it's based on the current location of the bus, not the fantasy schedule that DDOT posts. But, of course, it can't predict what might delay the bus before it gets to you. You can always text again for an update.)