3 ms·

With an uber like indicator of wait time, it seems like it would be tolerable. If a bus is guaranteed to show up in 20 minutes, i can make use of those 20 minut

by jfoutz 10y ago

With an uber like indicator of wait time, it seems like it would be tolerable. If a bus is guaranteed to show up in 20 minutes, i can make use of those 20 minutes. Fundamentally though, it's a density/diffusion problem. Having enough rides available in the right spots is tough. Especially when, say 10% of riders go way off in the sticks, with no need for pickups out there. You want a nice random distribution of rider routes, but really, people go east in the morning, and west in the evening (for example), so a lot of capacity is unused just getting back to where demand is. tricky tricky problem. schedules and defined routes are part of the solution, for sure.

kuschku 10y ago
Indeed. A uber-like waiting indicator is actually already existing in about all cities – either per app or website (like http://kvg-kiel.de/fahrplan/echtzeit/#?stop=52 http://kvg-kiel.de/fahrplan/echtzeit/#?stop=52 ) or as an actual display at the bus stop (like http://www.kvg-kiel.de/yaml/gfx/submenu/fahrplan.jpg http://www.kvg-kiel.de/yaml/gfx/submenu/fahrplan.jpg ). And many cities already have on-demand busses (mine calls them ALiTa or "Anruflinientaxi", pretty much meaning "taxi that operate as bus line on demand via calling a phone number". But an especially important part, as you mentioned, is knowing for sure when the next bus will come – even without looking at the display – so you can plan for that, and use that time.
- snuxoll 10y ago
  This is one area I've been rather happy with using HERE Maps for, I put in my destination and my desired arrival time and the vast majority of the time I get a workable route on public transit that has only failed me a handful of times (I've always allotted myself extra time to avoid human error, so the few times it's been wrong I've still gotten to my destination with time to spare). Even Muni (which most locals seem to complain about) didn't give me many troubles, but my local municipality is junk for public transit so maybe I'm way more lenient than most.
- pampa 10y ago
  In Moscow all buses are equipped with GPS/GLONASS trackers and there is an app, Yandex.Transport, that shows you where all the buses are. It is hard to keep a precise schedule in traffic, but with the app you always know how far away the next bus is.
  - kuschku 10y ago
    That’s what they do here as well, but the app just calculates how far the busses are off schedule based on the GLONASS and GPS data. If you look at the raw data for each stop, you see this: http://www.kvg-kiel.de/internetservice/services/passageInfo/stopPassages/stop?stop=52&mode=departure http://www.kvg-kiel.de/internetservice/services/passageInfo/... "plannedTime": "11:00", vs. "actualTime": "11:02", This is a pretty awesome solution that ensures the numbers actually are useful, and that everyone can easily understand them (without having to look at a map and find where the route is).

by jfoutz 10y ago

kuschku 10y ago

Indeed. A uber-like waiting indicator is actually already existing in about all cities – either per app or website (like http://kvg-kiel.de/fahrplan/echtzeit/#?stop=52 http://kvg-kiel.de/fahrplan/echtzeit/#?stop=52 ) or as an actual display at the bus stop (like http://www.kvg-kiel.de/yaml/gfx/submenu/fahrplan.jpg http://www.kvg-kiel.de/yaml/gfx/submenu/fahrplan.jpg ). And many cities already have on-demand busses (mine calls them ALiTa or "Anruflinientaxi", pretty much meaning "taxi that operate as bus line on demand via calling a phone number". But an especially important part, as you mentioned, is knowing for sure when the next bus will come – even without looking at the display – so you can plan for that, and use that time.

snuxoll 10y ago
This is one area I've been rather happy with using HERE Maps for, I put in my destination and my desired arrival time and the vast majority of the time I get a workable route on public transit that has only failed me a handful of times (I've always allotted myself extra time to avoid human error, so the few times it's been wrong I've still gotten to my destination with time to spare). Even Muni (which most locals seem to complain about) didn't give me many troubles, but my local municipality is junk for public transit so maybe I'm way more lenient than most.
pampa 10y ago
In Moscow all buses are equipped with GPS/GLONASS trackers and there is an app, Yandex.Transport, that shows you where all the buses are. It is hard to keep a precise schedule in traffic, but with the app you always know how far away the next bus is.
- kuschku 10y ago
  That’s what they do here as well, but the app just calculates how far the busses are off schedule based on the GLONASS and GPS data. If you look at the raw data for each stop, you see this: http://www.kvg-kiel.de/internetservice/services/passageInfo/stopPassages/stop?stop=52&mode=departure http://www.kvg-kiel.de/internetservice/services/passageInfo/... "plannedTime": "11:00", vs. "actualTime": "11:02", This is a pretty awesome solution that ensures the numbers actually are useful, and that everyone can easily understand them (without having to look at a map and find where the route is).