real-time arrivals | 511 Contra Costa

Two Thumbs Up For The County Connection's Real Time Bus Tracker

About half a year ago, the County Connection introduced “Bus Tracker,” the latest upgrade to County Connection’s on-board computer system that provides real time arrival predictions for any bus stop in the system. Since the upgrade, the agency has received nothing but positive feedback from transit riders. Take, for example, this comment from Gabe Griffith, president of the Contra Costa Chapter of the California Council of the Blind:

“Thank you for introducing Bus Tracker. It works great with the VoiceOver speech output on the iPhone. I’ve used it several times and it’s always been accurate. When I get my message that the bus is due to arrive at my stop, the bus shows up within a minute. I like that if a bus is running a little late, Bus Tracker will give actual arrival times, rather than scheduled arrival times. Two thumbs up!”

Real-time data that allows riders to track buses is the kind of improvement that truly makes transit more accessible, and convenient to the public– two thumbs up, indeed!
For a refresher of what exactly Bus Tracker is and how you can take advantage of it, see the below video

Video credit: h2MediaLabs
(Note: Passengers only need access to the Internet to see where buses are on-route, and to see when the next bus is predicted to arrive at any given stop.  Riders are encouraged to set up a personalized account to receive arrival alerts via text or email messages. Simply visit www.countyconnection.com and click the Bus Tracker button to get started.
County Connection is currently in the process of creating a downloadable application to make using Bus Tracker even more convenient on mobile devices.)

Nice And Clear: New Bay Area Transit Information (2013)

information
Look for this next time you’re in a downtown San Francisco BART station. Screen grab via MTC
The Metropolitan Transportation Commission recently installed new information centers including street maps, schedules, transfer info, and large LCD screens with real-time departures on sidewalls at the Civic Center, Montgomery, and Embarcadero BART stations in San Francisco. The sleek, highly-visible updated information centers are part of the MTC’s Transit Connectivity Plan to make the Bay Area’s public key transit hubs more friendly to users. The new information centers are clear and intuitive but the most welcoming feature is undoubtedly the live screens with real-time transit arrival information. Now riders can tell at a mere glance whether they should rush to catch their train, or whether they have time to grab a cup of coffee– no more running down to the platform simply because you hear a train arriving.
The new information centers are indicated by, and signed to, large orange circles with an “i” for information (see the picture at the top of this post) and twelve additional BART stations are slated to receive the same addition by summer 2013.
See the MTC’s video below that explains the phasing in of these new information centers and see what the already installed ones look like:

Tri Delta Transit adds real-time arrival information

Tri Delta Transit, East Contra Costa County’s public transit authority, is in the process of adding GPS-based vehicle locator system for its 69 buses. The system is expected to go live in the next three months after it has been thoroughly tested.
According to Steve Ponte, the Chief Operating Officer for Tri Delta Transit, the top phone inquiry from riders is “When is the next bus going to be here?” With the new system, riders will be able to access real-time arrival information via text message, calling an automated phone line, or online with a laptop or cell phone. At the line’s most popular stops, information for the next bus will be displayed on LED signs.
New features important for disabled riders include verbal announcements and textual displays of the next stop inside of buses.
Tri Delta Transit will join BARTAC Transit and a number of other transit agencies in having real-time information available to riders.
Source: When will next bus arrive? Tri-Delta Transit system will tell you – Contra Costa Times