I hate DDOT

[Tig3rzhark]

I wrote to both DDOT and SMART 5 years ago with a free offer to develop a web-based api to their transit data. Unfortunately I think it fell on deaf ears[[you have to remember that 7 years ago neither of them even had a website). Google Maps[[which uses their GTFS data over at Transit Chicago) does a pretty awesome job of routing you anywhere around the DDOT/SMART system. Unfortunately it doesn't tell you exactly where the bus is, but I've been very satisfied with the results.

The people that work for DDOT keep telling me that their real-time scheduling is only available at the Rosa Parks Transit Center. They just have the departure times for the buses that arrive there, and sometimes, they don't leave on time.

That's not going to be enough. Having the buses tracked by GPS would have to be implemented.

I've been on buses that every now and then, the bus driver would get off the bus and stop at a restaurant, gas station, whatever to get a snack....on duty. Which is why I have a good idea why they aren't doing it.

Anyone that rides a DDOT bus, even the SMART buses, should be able to know exactly where that bus is at that time. No bus is going to be on schedule all the time which everyone knows...but it would make the transit system more efficient.

[[Optional) We should also know in real time if the incoming bus has a bike rack on it or not.

Rosa Parks Transit Center should have all their doors opened. It doesn't make sense to me that only one location of doors would be open at the center. There are transit cops there, so why aren't all the doors open? I'm also sure that someone could be hired to keep the place clean. The last time I went there, there were cigarette butts everywhere outside.

[Augustiner]

Having the buses tracked by GPS would have to be implemented.

They already are tracked. That's how you get those fancy electronic voices that announce the transfer points and such. Of course, the system is very often out of whack and announces the wrong transfer points in the wrong places, but I can't think of a technical reason why the tracking data, such as it is, couldn't be made publicly available in real time.

[Tig3rzhark]

What I meant was, have the real-time location of each bus to be displayed on the Internet to be accessible by computer or mobile device.

http://www.cleverdevices.com/bus_arr...y_BUSTIME.html