Websites Are the Ticket to Getting to Bus on Time

Each day before he leaves his Santa Barbara office for his home in Camarillo, Michael Collie checks to see if his bus is coming.

He doesn’t peer out the window or down the street. Rather, he glances at his computer to see exactly where his bus is on its route and whether it will be on time.

The Ventura Intercity Service Transit Authority has given bus riders a way to monitor a vehicle’s moment-by-moment progress on maps and schedules, using a global positioning system called NextBus.

“There’s a lot of anxiety standing out there looking down the street and not knowing when the bus is really going to come,” Collie said. “Having a chance to check NextBus to get a handle on that really helps.”

About 95 buses in Ventura County, operated by six agencies, carry a NextBus rooftop satellite locator and radio transmitter. The equipment feeds information to a central computer in Northern California that calculates how long it should take each bus to reach its next few stops based on current speed, anticipated travel time and performance history.

Riders can access this real-time information on a computer, on a cellphone equipped with a web browser, on a personal digital assistant or from three dozen monitors at stops throughout the county. The service can be viewed at www.goventura.org and www.nextbus.com.

The data is recalculated every 90 seconds or 600 feet to make the schedule estimates 98% accurate within one minute, said Kenneth J. Schmier, founder and chief executive of Emeryville-based NextBus Information Systems Inc.

“It makes a big difference whether you’re there a minute before a bus arrives or one minute after it leaves,” Schmier said.

NextBus is used by 32 transit agencies in 10 states, including the Glendale Beeline. The system also tracks water taxis in New York City, streetcars in Portland, Ore., and trains and trolleys in San Francisco.

“What’s happened to me is that I don’t want to wait for the train anymore because I don’t have to,” said Marc Caposino, marketing director for San Francisco’s Municipal Transportation Agency. “If it’s cold or if it’s raining, I don’t want to wait, and that’s when [the service is] perfect. I look to see when it says the train is coming in one minute, and then I run.”

Glendale’s system has been a success, said Jano Baghdanian, the city’s traffic and transportation administrator. Glendale plans to increase the number of outdoor NextBus monitors by installing them in half of 30 new shelters to be built next year.

“There’s nothing more frustrating for a customer than to arrive at a bus stop and not know if they just missed a bus or how long they have to wait,” Baghdanian said. “As long as people know when a bus is coming, they perceive the time to be shorter.”

In Los Angeles, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the region’s largest public bus operator, also has a global positioning system that continuously tracks buses, but the data is for agency use and there are no plans to make it available on a public website, said MTA spokesman Rick Jager. On busy routes such as Wilshire Boulevard, Jager said, buses arrive about every 90 seconds, making constant updates via computer unnecessary.

Ventura County’s system, which cost $950,000 and was installed in 2001, was purchased to improve customer service, but it helps managers as well.

“It’s the first time we’ve all been able to know where the buses are all the time,” said Steve DeGeorge, the transportation agency’s director of technology.

Vic Kamhi, director of transit programs, said: “We primarily looked at it as a way to reduce some of the rider inquiries and to make it easier for them, but it’s been a great management tool as well. We can respond to complaints a lot better.”

If a driver is suspected of arriving too early at stops, NextBus can review his or her adherence to the schedule to decide whether a problem exists, said Ray Turpin, deputy director of transit for Simi Valley.

“A lot of time it does show that our drivers were at the right place at the right time and maybe the passenger was not,” said Laura Caskey, a director for South Coast Area Transit, which operates buses between Ojai and Port Hueneme.

Craig Winters, a veteran bus operator and a part-time supervisor, said NextBus takes just seconds to engage at the beginning of a shift and doesn’t require much else.

Having their vehicles’ whereabouts constantly on display gives drivers added protection, he said. If an emergency, such as a violent passenger, prevents a driver from calling dispatch, a silent alarm alerts the main office and NextBus provides law enforcement with the vehicle’s exact location.

“Rather than being Big Brother, it gives you a better sense of security,” Winters said. “You’re not out there alone. If there is a problem, you can be reached immediately.”

The NextBus system is not without flaws. Cellular service in the Conejo Valley is so spotty that it has prevented some of the tracking equipment from working. That is expected to be fixed by next spring.

Also, unexpected detours can throw a bus off the grid, requiring drivers to log on again.

And NextBus monitors require electricity, something many stops don’t have. The company said future monitors will be powered by batteries that last for as long as two years.