NXTBUS?

wildturkeycanoe said :

Yes I caught the 12:18 from Mitchell. I didn’t catch the Blue Rapid, as it probably didn’t come up in the many searches I did of buses heading in that direction, whilst trying not to get carsick looking at my phone in the bus.
If you are a frequent bus patron and have more than 10 minutes and a half decent mobile connection speed to upload the web pages, you would probably work out that going to City instead of Gungahlin would be quicker. Yet, Google map’s bus instructions don’t steer you into the city either, so how is anyone supposed to know this?

Ghettosmurf87 – I left after 12:00 PM, from a work meeting. Your city solutions would have put me in Kippax at 2:00PM anyway. I figured this by using the silly timetables from home with a PC, 10Mb/s line speed and it still took me longer than the 15 minutes I had before the next bus from the middle of Mitchell departed.

I’ll just twitch and whack things at home, safely away from people who obviously know more than I do about myself.

So you admit now that you caught the 12:18pm bus from Mitchell. Did you just state in your original post that you left Mitchell BEFORE 12noon because it sounded like you had had a worse experience?

My “city solutions” quite clearly showed that you would get to Macgregor Primary, your intended destination (Not Kippax), by 1:35pm. This is not a game of rounding, where you change that to “put me in Kippax at 2:00pm anyway”.

You stated that you took the bus that day “by choice”. When did you make the “choice”? If you did so at the last possible minute and therefore did not have enough time to work out THE QUICKEST route and instead took a longer one because it seemed more obvious, that’s your own fault.

That lack of planning is your business, not a fault of the bus system. It’s akin to you not reading the signs put up during the week announcing that there’ll be roadwork on at a particular time, then having to take a detour or getting stuck in a jam because of it. Or of not knowing a short cut to get to a destination by car which allows you to avoid traffic, or lights, or whatever.

Bus bashing for the sake of it is what you reek of.

thebrownstreak69 said :

I caught a bus once, it was late, dirty and had people on it who stank.

That’s a bit hypocritical coming from someone with a username like that!

I don’t catch buses because they are inconvenient.

Yes I caught the 12:18 from Mitchell. I didn’t catch the Blue Rapid, as it probably didn’t come up in the many searches I did of buses heading in that direction, whilst trying not to get carsick looking at my phone in the bus.
If you are a frequent bus patron and have more than 10 minutes and a half decent mobile connection speed to upload the web pages, you would probably work out that going to City instead of Gungahlin would be quicker. Yet, Google map’s bus instructions don’t steer you into the city either, so how is anyone supposed to know this?

Ghettosmurf87 – I left after 12:00 PM, from a work meeting. Your city solutions would have put me in Kippax at 2:00PM anyway. I figured this by using the silly timetables from home with a PC, 10Mb/s line speed and it still took me longer than the 15 minutes I had before the next bus from the middle of Mitchell departed.

I’ll just twitch and whack things at home, safely away from people who obviously know more than I do about myself.

I caught a bus once, it was late, dirty and had people on it who stank.

Genie said :

I was asked how the real time data could plan my day better… this morning gave me a perfect example…

Walking down my driveway this morning I watched my bus drive past. I was kinda confused as it was 8.40am and the bus is estimated to have left the previous timing point at either 8.32am or 8.44am. The timing point stop is roughly 4-5 stops away from where I catch the bus and the timing points at my stop are only 2 mins later.

If I had real time data this could have told me if the bus bus running late by approx 6-8mins (the 8.32 bus), or running 4-6 mins early (the 8.44 bus). Given the next bus wasn’t expected until almost 9.30am should that bus have been the later of the 2 I would have likely stood at the bus stop in the rain (with 2 others) confused as to where my bus is.

With real time data I could have check if the bus I saw was early or late, and had i missed it resulting in a 45 min wait for the next bus, I could have caught the bus travelling in the other direction then got on a 300 bus to the City. Or walked about 15-20mins to catch a different bus in the next suburb over.

What were you doing before leaving for the bus? Was it something you could likely drop 10-15 mins early when you noticed you bus was early?
I don’t believe you would have received much benefit from the new system, but if you seem to think its the next big thing, have fun!

Ghettosmurf87 said :

wildturkeycanoe said :

I call BULLS**T!!

+1
wildturkeycanoe is either an amazing loon or an expert troll.

As a daily user of Action buses I welcome the innovation. I have experienced a very similar system in Dublin and London. Excellent. I also welcome wildturkeycanoe’s promise to never use Action buses again. One less twitching whack-job to avoid.

I was asked how the real time data could plan my day better… this morning gave me a perfect example…

Walking down my driveway this morning I watched my bus drive past. I was kinda confused as it was 8.40am and the bus is estimated to have left the previous timing point at either 8.32am or 8.44am. The timing point stop is roughly 4-5 stops away from where I catch the bus and the timing points at my stop are only 2 mins later.

If I had real time data this could have told me if the bus bus running late by approx 6-8mins (the 8.32 bus), or running 4-6 mins early (the 8.44 bus). Given the next bus wasn’t expected until almost 9.30am should that bus have been the later of the 2 I would have likely stood at the bus stop in the rain (with 2 others) confused as to where my bus is.

With real time data I could have check if the bus I saw was early or late, and had i missed it resulting in a 45 min wait for the next bus, I could have caught the bus travelling in the other direction then got on a 300 bus to the City. Or walked about 15-20mins to catch a different bus in the next suburb over.

wildturkeycanoe said :

You guessed right. Every time I’ve contemplated, or actually caught the bus, I’ve found the routes make my trip a 2 or 3 bus and/or a 2 or 3 hour tour of Canberra. The main problem is you take the first bus to the exchange and then wait another 45 minutes to get the next one that goes to where you are heading, because the previous one left 5 minutes before you arrived at the exchange [because it is scheduled that way]. Then the bus goes on a merry go round tour of the neighboring suburbs before getting you “almost” to your destination. Then you either wait another 20 minutes for the next bus, or just walk the last 5 kilometres.
The last time I traveled on bus, by choice just to see how good it is, I departed from Mitchell to get to West Belco on a weekday. I detoured via most of Palmerston, Gungahlin and it took me through to Belco exchange where I had to catch another one just minutes after arriving. Then went on another 45 minute merry go round through half of West Belconnen, then I had to get picked up from Kippax by my wife to go the final few kilometers to make my appointment. I left Mitchell before 12:00 PM and got to Kippax just before 2:00PM. It wasn’t the most direct route, but the quickest using the schedules available. Had I used a car, it would’ve been 20 minutes. I didn’t even know how or where to catch the bus at the time, but using the internet on my phone and the timetables on the ACTION website, I planned the route myself. Even with the internet maps/ACTION website, it is a minimum 2 hour journey with a few kilometers of walking. I made it there, because I got to the bus stop on time. I didn’t need a digital monitor to see how far away it was either.The biggest issue of bus transport for me is that the buses arrive at depots several minutes after the departing connection leaves, making you sit there for 45 minutes or more for the next one. This problem if resolved, would tempt me to catch it more often if required, more than a fancy multi-million dollar tracking system would.

I call BULLS**T!!

I smelled a rat as soon as you mentioned Mitchell and Palmerston. I know that route, I used it on a daily basis for over a year. It is the Route 56 going from Belconnen to the City, via Gungahlin, Palmerston & Mitchell.

If you caught it only a month ago, there has been no change in timetable since that time.

You state that you caught the bus BEFORE 12 noon? Rubbish!

The bus leaving Mitchell in the direction of Belconnen leaves Mitchell at 18 past the hour, EVERY HOUR in the middle of the day. So you either caught the bus at 11:18am or at 12:18pm. Which one?

That bus does take ages to get to belconnen, but arrives at the final stop at 1:08pm (if you got the 12:18pm bus). The 318 to Kippax leaves the same stop at 1:12pm. That’s 4min of waiting at THE SAME STOP. You don’t have to walk around and find the right terminal like in the city, it is THE SAME STOP.

The 318 then arrives in Kippax at 1:26pm…giving you a full hour to complete the 15-20min walk to Macgregor Primary.

Even if this walk takes you 30min, you’re there before 2pm, a full 30min before you’re appointment.

However, if you’d done a teensy-tiny little bit of checking MORE before you left Mitchell, you’d have been able to get to right outside the Primary school by 1:35pm and this is how.

Catch a bus from Fleminton road in Mitchell the other way, to the city! It is a far shorter trip than to belco, taking under 20min. For your reference, the services at that particular time were:

– Rte 58 leaving Flemington at approx 11:55am and getting to civic at 12:14pm
– Rte 57 leaving at 11:52am and getting to civic at 12:08pm
– 3 x Rte 200 leaving at 11:53, 12:08 & 12:23 and arriving in civic at 12:07, 12:22 & 12:37 respectively.

From the city you could have caught any number of 300 series buses to belconnen. All of these services that left the city prior to 12:41pm (which is after you’d have gotten there) would have gotten you to Belconnen by 1:04pm or earlier.

With that in mind, you would then have jumped on the Rte 43 leaving the last stop in Belconnen at 1:06pm and arrived outside Magregor Primary at 1:35pm, give or take a few minutes.

What you do with the remaining 55min until your appointment is up to you.

If you had wished to do it in the shortest time, you’d have left Mitchell on the 200 series at 12:23 and gotten to Macgregor Primary at 1:35, a total travel time of 72min. Much longer than a car, no doubt, but far cheaper than a taxi and no where near the 2-3hrs you claimed.

The ACTION bus timetables have plenty of flaws, but if you’re willing to be a little bit flexible and do your research in advance, you can get most places you need to go in a reasonable time.

thatsnotme said :

I’m wondering how long ago this was? And where your actual destination was in West Belconnen? In recent times, the 318 and 319 services have come online, with a direct route from Belconnen to Kippax – no wandering through the suburbs at all, they head straight up Southern Cross Drive.

Let’s also be realistic here. The ACTION service is primarily a ‘get to and from work and school’ service. The morning and afternoon peak services are great, but trying to get anywhere in the middle of the day or the weekend is tough. I’m not sure what it’s costing to put the real time system in, but I can guarantee that wouldn’t go close to providing a system where you could go from point A to point B in what most people would consider a reasonable time, regardless of when they decided they needed to travel.

The fact that it took you two hours to get from Mitchell to Kippax in the middle of the day? Well what did you expect? How many other people were on the buses you were riding on? You decided to see what public transport could do, in the middle of the day, from a non-central location to another non-central location, while trying to get to an appointment, and you think that ACTION should be trying to cater to your unique needs before providing a service that those of us that actually do regularly catch a bus will use and appreciate every day?

We have a taxi service for a reason, and you obviously drive. It beggars belief that you’d completely dismiss the need for a system like this when your last public transport experience was using a bus when driving was the obvious choice.

This trip was only a month ago, from Mitchell [where only one bus an hour goes through to Belconnen] to the Macgregor Primary School. It was actually a challenge to see if public transport would get me there by 2:30.
The 318 bus left at the same time as the 56 arrived in Belconnen interchange, so I would have had to wait for the next one at 1:33PM, making my arrival at Kippax 2:26, leaving 4 minutes to run to the school. This is my point, the connecting buses that would make your trip quicker do not wait for you to get on board, they leave before you get there.
If Mitchell and Kippax aren’t major town centres, what qualifies? At least Mitchell should have direct routes to places like Belconnen, considering it is the nearest industrial hub this side of the City.
If ACTION is just a commuting service for schoolkids and office workers, I’m sorry, I have made a serious error and I’ll take back everything I have said about ACTION to this point in time. I thought it was a public transport system for everybody. I will never use it again and simply continue to drive my car.
I hope the new system can tell you how many people are on the bus, so that when you watch it go past fully loaded after waiting precisely 30 seconds at the stop, you can curse ACTION for making you late for work or school again.
I’m getting off at this stop folks, the journey has made me weary. Cheers.

Mark of Sydney said :

JC said :

Mark of Sydney said :

We find the Sydney Buses Txtbus system really useful. Unlike the proposed Canberra system, it doesn’t have realtime display at bus stops, but it provides a text message showing all the buses that will arrive over the next 30 minutes at a particular bus stop, based on their current GPS identified location.

You just need to text the 6 digit stop number to the Txtbus number and it immediately returns a list of the buses that will arrrive in how many minutes. After using it for several months I can vouch for its speed and reliability.

To see how it works, text the stop number 205018 (Broadway near City Road at Ultimo outbound) to Sydney Buses Txtbus on 0488 898 287.

I would think it would be a lot less expensive to install and run than the proposed Canberra system.

The Canberra system is not going to have displays at EVERY stop, just key stops. Presumably for the others things like text or a web app will do the job.

So don’t see the issue, and frankly main stops, like Broadway in Sydney should have it real time without the need to text to get the info.

Fair point. The main stops in Sydney should have a real time arrival display — but improving Sydney public transport has to start somewhere.

As an part-time resident of the inner north, I use the buses here two or three times a week, and I’m impressed with the MyWay system. So far I must have used it for more than 50 trips, and (notwithstanding one of the previous poster’s claim that it fails every second time) I’ve not ever seen it fail. My partner can’t quite grasp the point that you don’t need to pay a new fare every time you
change buses, and you don’t need to carry multiple 10-ride cards for trips of different length.

Although you can’t pay with cash on some of the busier routes and at the busier stops in Sydney, at stops where cash is accepted the rate of cash payments seems to be far higher in Sydney than here, an indication of how readily MyWay has been accepted. The ACT transport minister should invite his(?) NSW colleague down for a demonstration.

I was in Melbourne recently. Got stuck at a tram stop. I was able to text my stop number to a certain phone number and got an instant reply saying what trams were how far away. Sounds similar to what you describe above.

JC said :

Mark of Sydney said :

We find the Sydney Buses Txtbus system really useful. Unlike the proposed Canberra system, it doesn’t have realtime display at bus stops, but it provides a text message showing all the buses that will arrive over the next 30 minutes at a particular bus stop, based on their current GPS identified location.

You just need to text the 6 digit stop number to the Txtbus number and it immediately returns a list of the buses that will arrrive in how many minutes. After using it for several months I can vouch for its speed and reliability.

To see how it works, text the stop number 205018 (Broadway near City Road at Ultimo outbound) to Sydney Buses Txtbus on 0488 898 287.

I would think it would be a lot less expensive to install and run than the proposed Canberra system.

The Canberra system is not going to have displays at EVERY stop, just key stops. Presumably for the others things like text or a web app will do the job.

So don’t see the issue, and frankly main stops, like Broadway in Sydney should have it real time without the need to text to get the info.

Fair point. The main stops in Sydney should have a real time arrival display — but improving Sydney public transport has to start somewhere.

As an part-time resident of the inner north, I use the buses here two or three times a week, and I’m impressed with the MyWay system. So far I must have used it for more than 50 trips, and (notwithstanding one of the previous poster’s claim that it fails every second time) I’ve not ever seen it fail. My partner can’t quite grasp the point that you don’t need to pay a new fare every time you change buses, and you don’t need to carry multiple 10-ride cards for trips of different length.

Although you can’t pay with cash on some of the busier routes and at the busier stops in Sydney, at stops where cash is accepted the rate of cash payments seems to be far higher in Sydney than here, an indication of how readily MyWay has been accepted. The ACT transport minister should invite his(?) NSW colleague down for a demonstration.

wildturkeycanoe said :

Canberroid said :

wildturkeycanoe, given your commentary in this thread I’m curious to know how often you actually catch the bus. I’m guessing not very.

You guessed right. Every time I’ve contemplated, or actually caught the bus, I’ve found the routes make my trip a 2 or 3 bus and/or a 2 or 3 hour tour of Canberra. The main problem is you take the first bus to the exchange and then wait another 45 minutes to get the next one that goes to where you are heading, because the previous one left 5 minutes before you arrived at the exchange [because it is scheduled that way]. Then the bus goes on a merry go round tour of the neighboring suburbs before getting you “almost” to your destination. Then you either wait another 20 minutes for the next bus, or just walk the last 5 kilometres.
The last time I traveled on bus, by choice just to see how good it is, I departed from Mitchell to get to West Belco on a weekday. I detoured via most of Palmerston, Gungahlin and it took me through to Belco exchange where I had to catch another one just minutes after arriving. Then went on another 45 minute merry go round through half of West Belconnen, then I had to get picked up from Kippax by my wife to go the final few kilometers to make my appointment. I left Mitchell before 12:00 PM and got to Kippax just before 2:00PM. It wasn’t the most direct route, but the quickest using the schedules available. Had I used a car, it would’ve been 20 minutes. I didn’t even know how or where to catch the bus at the time, but using the internet on my phone and the timetables on the ACTION website, I planned the route myself. Even with the internet maps/ACTION website, it is a minimum 2 hour journey with a few kilometers of walking. I made it there, because I got to the bus stop on time. I didn’t need a digital monitor to see how far away it was either.The biggest issue of bus transport for me is that the buses arrive at depots several minutes after the departing connection leaves, making you sit there for 45 minutes or more for the next one. This problem if resolved, would tempt me to catch it more often if required, more than a fancy multi-million dollar tracking system would.

I’m wondering how long ago this was? And where your actual destination was in West Belconnen? In recent times, the 318 and 319 services have come online, with a direct route from Belconnen to Kippax – no wandering through the suburbs at all, they head straight up Southern Cross Drive.

Let’s also be realistic here. The ACTION service is primarily a ‘get to and from work and school’ service. The morning and afternoon peak services are great, but trying to get anywhere in the middle of the day or the weekend is tough. I’m not sure what it’s costing to put the real time system in, but I can guarantee that wouldn’t go close to providing a system where you could go from point A to point B in what most people would consider a reasonable time, regardless of when they decided they needed to travel.

The fact that it took you two hours to get from Mitchell to Kippax in the middle of the day? Well what did you expect? How many other people were on the buses you were riding on? You decided to see what public transport could do, in the middle of the day, from a non-central location to another non-central location, while trying to get to an appointment, and you think that ACTION should be trying to cater to your unique needs before providing a service that those of us that actually do regularly catch a bus will use and appreciate every day?

We have a taxi service for a reason, and you obviously drive. It beggars belief that you’d completely dismiss the need for a system like this when your last public transport experience was using a bus when driving was the obvious choice.

magiccar9 said :

damien haas said :

magiccar9 said :

Everybody’s arguing about different points here but missing the elephant in the room… It will be a system run/managed by ACTION/ACT government. This fact is a dead give away that it will either be dis-functional, offline for more than 50% of the time, or grossly inaccurate. Look at the track record of the bus system, buses are either late, early, or broken down – none of which benefits commuters. What makes people think that this system will be any better?

I must leap to ACTIONS defence here, the Myway system was introduced very competently. It resolved a massive problem with obsolete and broken ticketing system, which impacted passenger satisfaction and the fare box.

This system is years late, but IF it appears it will prove its worth is restoring a level of confidence to the service. Too often the bus is early/late or sometime just doesn’t turn up (specially on weekends).

If you can be sure the bus will be at the stop when you need it, it should lift public transport patronage.

That is a good thing.

Seriously!? Every second bus I get on (maybe a slight exaggeration) the myway reader is either broken or the bus driver is waving people on because his machine is broken. Then you get the dills who don’t have enough on their card and try to argue the point with everyone, with everyone waiting behind them. Tell me that’s a functional efficient system….

I’ve had nothing but good experiences with My Way

magiccar9 said :

damien haas said :

magiccar9 said :

Everybody’s arguing about different points here but missing the elephant in the room… It will be a system run/managed by ACTION/ACT government. This fact is a dead give away that it will either be dis-functional, offline for more than 50% of the time, or grossly inaccurate. Look at the track record of the bus system, buses are either late, early, or broken down – none of which benefits commuters. What makes people think that this system will be any better?

I must leap to ACTIONS defence here, the Myway system was introduced very competently. It resolved a massive problem with obsolete and broken ticketing system, which impacted passenger satisfaction and the fare box.

This system is years late, but IF it appears it will prove its worth is restoring a level of confidence to the service. Too often the bus is early/late or sometime just doesn’t turn up (specially on weekends).

If you can be sure the bus will be at the stop when you need it, it should lift public transport patronage.

That is a good thing.

Seriously!? Every second bus I get on (maybe a slight exaggeration) the myway reader is either broken or the bus driver is waving people on because his machine is broken. Then you get the dills who don’t have enough on their card and try to argue the point with everyone, with everyone waiting behind them. Tell me that’s a functional efficient system….

Can’t say I’ve experienced those problems. I’m impressed with the MyWay system. If you really want to see public transport card chaos, try Melbourne’s Myki.

Mark of Sydney said :

We find the Sydney Buses Txtbus system really useful. Unlike the proposed Canberra system, it doesn’t have realtime display at bus stops, but it provides a text message showing all the buses that will arrive over the next 30 minutes at a particular bus stop, based on their current GPS identified location.

You just need to text the 6 digit stop number to the Txtbus number and it immediately returns a list of the buses that will arrrive in how many minutes. After using it for several months I can vouch for its speed and reliability.

To see how it works, text the stop number 205018 (Broadway near City Road at Ultimo outbound) to Sydney Buses Txtbus on 0488 898 287.

I would think it would be a lot less expensive to install and run than the proposed Canberra system.

The Canberra system is not going to have displays at EVERY stop, just key stops. Presumably for the others things like text or a web app will do the job.

So don’t see the issue, and frankly main stops, like Broadway in Sydney should have it real time without the need to text to get the info.

Am currently working in a job that does not have a car park thrown in. Wasn’t going to pay the going rate to store my unused car during the day so gave the bus a go. It is not that bad actually, and MYWAY works a treat. Also saving a motza. Now if they just get the buses running to the approximate timetable and all is good.

Canberroid said :

wildturkeycanoe, given your commentary in this thread I’m curious to know how often you actually catch the bus. I’m guessing not very.

You guessed right. Every time I’ve contemplated, or actually caught the bus, I’ve found the routes make my trip a 2 or 3 bus and/or a 2 or 3 hour tour of Canberra. The main problem is you take the first bus to the exchange and then wait another 45 minutes to get the next one that goes to where you are heading, because the previous one left 5 minutes before you arrived at the exchange [because it is scheduled that way]. Then the bus goes on a merry go round tour of the neighboring suburbs before getting you “almost” to your destination. Then you either wait another 20 minutes for the next bus, or just walk the last 5 kilometres.
The last time I traveled on bus, by choice just to see how good it is, I departed from Mitchell to get to West Belco on a weekday. I detoured via most of Palmerston, Gungahlin and it took me through to Belco exchange where I had to catch another one just minutes after arriving. Then went on another 45 minute merry go round through half of West Belconnen, then I had to get picked up from Kippax by my wife to go the final few kilometers to make my appointment. I left Mitchell before 12:00 PM and got to Kippax just before 2:00PM. It wasn’t the most direct route, but the quickest using the schedules available. Had I used a car, it would’ve been 20 minutes. I didn’t even know how or where to catch the bus at the time, but using the internet on my phone and the timetables on the ACTION website, I planned the route myself. Even with the internet maps/ACTION website, it is a minimum 2 hour journey with a few kilometers of walking. I made it there, because I got to the bus stop on time. I didn’t need a digital monitor to see how far away it was either.The biggest issue of bus transport for me is that the buses arrive at depots several minutes after the departing connection leaves, making you sit there for 45 minutes or more for the next one. This problem if resolved, would tempt me to catch it more often if required, more than a fancy multi-million dollar tracking system would.

wildturkeycanoe, given your commentary in this thread I’m curious to know how often you actually catch the bus. I’m guessing not very.

peebus said :

Genie said :

Having a real time system will help plan people days better.

What do you have in your life that you need to plan to such extreme lengths for? If you take public transport it’s one of the things you need to take into account. If you want maximum efficiency, drive a car everywhere – that way you’re in total control.

What about those of us with disabilities who cannot drive, or those who don’t have a license for a variety of reasons ? We have to rely on public transport.

Having real time data CAN help me plan my day better, a bus only departs once an hour during off peak time for some routes. If you miss it because it has come early, and you’re lucky enough to have access to more than one bus route, you can plan your day.

I’m also curious as to how driving a car provides maximum efficiency ? My my way card costs me about $20-$25 a week. Driving and parking would cost me more than $100 a week after petrol and parking fees.

There’s also normally about 50 people on my bus in peak hour. Less cars on the road means you might be getting to work just that little bit quicker and having a car park available to you.

damien haas said :

magiccar9 said :

Everybody’s arguing about different points here but missing the elephant in the room… It will be a system run/managed by ACTION/ACT government. This fact is a dead give away that it will either be dis-functional, offline for more than 50% of the time, or grossly inaccurate. Look at the track record of the bus system, buses are either late, early, or broken down – none of which benefits commuters. What makes people think that this system will be any better?

I must leap to ACTIONS defence here, the Myway system was introduced very competently. It resolved a massive problem with obsolete and broken ticketing system, which impacted passenger satisfaction and the fare box.

This system is years late, but IF it appears it will prove its worth is restoring a level of confidence to the service. Too often the bus is early/late or sometime just doesn’t turn up (specially on weekends).

If you can be sure the bus will be at the stop when you need it, it should lift public transport patronage.

That is a good thing.

Seriously!? Every second bus I get on (maybe a slight exaggeration) the myway reader is either broken or the bus driver is waving people on because his machine is broken. Then you get the dills who don’t have enough on their card and try to argue the point with everyone, with everyone waiting behind them. Tell me that’s a functional efficient system….

Okay, for all of the people who want to leave their home 5 minutes before the bus comes to their stop because the NXTBUS system says it will be there in 5 minutes time, consider this. Does the NXTBUS system know that the previous 4 pickup/drop-off points have or have-not people waiting? If it uses an average pickup time at each one but nobody is at those stops, will it mean the bus will arrive at ,say 2 minutes, earlier than scheduled? Too bad if you are still on the way by foot. If there is a disabled person at one and a cyclist wanting to use the rack at the next, how does the NXTBUS system help you when it changes your departure time from 3:45PM to 3:53 PM after you arrived at exactly the time it said it was going to be there?
Unless the NXTBUS system can see into the future, it will not guarantee you won’t miss your bus or have to wait for a horrible 7 minutes more then you’d like. If these small periods of your life are that precious to you, buses are not going to be a recommended mode of transport.
Genie – NXTBUS in your situation still wouldn’t have got you to your destination on time, because the previous bus would have left 15 minutes earlier and the next one 15 minutes later. All NXTBUS would have achieved is telling you “Too bad, you aren’t getting there on time today”.
NXTBUS WILL NOT MAKE BUSES RUN ON TIME. It isn’t a magic cure for all your problems, it’s just a nice warm feeling for everyone addicted to technology, at a massive cost to ratepayers.

If a bus is reaching a timing point on the advertised timetable early, shouldn’t it be stopping there and waiting before moving on. That would at least stop the early bus problems. Adelaide buses used to do this when I stent some time living there. the bus i used to catch would often be early and i could see it parked 2 stops away on the long straight road i used to catch it on. Eventually the bus driver, knowing i was always waiting for him came up to my stop and did his waiting there. nice guy.

magiccar9 said :

Everybody’s arguing about different points here but missing the elephant in the room… It will be a system run/managed by ACTION/ACT government. This fact is a dead give away that it will either be dis-functional, offline for more than 50% of the time, or grossly inaccurate. Look at the track record of the bus system, buses are either late, early, or broken down – none of which benefits commuters. What makes people think that this system will be any better?

I must leap to ACTIONS defence here, the Myway system was introduced very competently. It resolved a massive problem with obsolete and broken ticketing system, which impacted passenger satisfaction and the fare box.

This system is years late, but IF it appears it will prove its worth is restoring a level of confidence to the service. Too often the bus is early/late or sometime just doesn’t turn up (specially on weekends).

If you can be sure the bus will be at the stop when you need it, it should lift public transport patronage.

That is a good thing.

peebus said :

Genie said :

Having a real time system will help plan people days better.

What do you have in your life that you need to plan to such extreme lengths for? If you take public transport it’s one of the things you need to take into account. If you want maximum efficiency, drive a car everywhere – that way you’re in total control.

That’s debatable because the average Canberra drivers goal is not only to get from point A to point B, but to stop everyone else getting from point A to point B, or at least delay them. And catching the bus also works out at least $50 cheaper a week after you take into account fuel and parking costs.

I also catch buses during the week and you plan your timings based around what the bus timetables say. Action should create a timetable that they can stick to. This means taking into account things like traffic conditions, and the one idiot on every bus who can’t figure out the my way tag on tag off system. At the moment it seems like they took a bus out at 3am and drove the route without stopping and implemented their timetable off that.

Genie said :

Having a real time system will help plan people days better.

What do you have in your life that you need to plan to such extreme lengths for? If you take public transport it’s one of the things you need to take into account. If you want maximum efficiency, drive a car everywhere – that way you’re in total control.

wildturkeycanoe said :

Canberroid said :

So you think that waiting around for half an hour or so after missing an early bus is an acceptable solution? Or arriving ten minutes early every time and adding even more time to an already slow bus commute? Do we all need to get off your lawn?

The only complaint I have about this NXTBUS thing is that it wasn’t introduced 5+ years ago. Anyone who catches a bus that is regularly at least five minutes early or late will appreciate being able to time their walk to the bus stop so as to minimise time wastage. This system will improve patronage of the bus system and hopefully mean less traffic on the roads and a more cost effective bus system.

Like you just said, if the bus is regularly 5 minutes early, why aren’t you at the stop 10 minutes before it arrives? Knowing that you missed it before you get to the stop isn’t going to get you to work any earlier, whether you are waiting for half an hour in the cold,pouring rain or sitting in your lounge chair at home. How are you minimizing time wastage by turning up or not turning up just after the bus went past? Drive and you’ll save even more time.
I cannot see this system alone attracting a heap of new customers to the bus system, what incentive is there apart from knowing the buses aren’t running on time and frustrating you even more?

You clearly don’t catch buses, or have serious issues with it.

This system will be extremely helpful as ACTION buses are rarely on time.

It is extremely frustrating to get to a bus stop 5-10mins early… to either
a) have missed the bus coz it came stupidly early -or-
b) have to wait because the bus is stupidly late.

Sadly my bus is ALWAYS late. I have about a 2min walk from my house to the bus stop and I can leave my place at the time the bus should be there, and still have to wait an additional 5-10mins.

The same goes for my bus leaving the City Interchange as well. Yesterday was a prime example, my bus “should” have left the platform at 3.01pm, it arrive at 3.06pm and then sat there until 3.11pm until it took off. I was using the electronic clock in the interchange as my timing point. I then swear the driver didn’t even exceed the speed limit by 40kms on the entire trip and I needed to be somewhere by 330pm.

Having a real time system will help plan people days better.

Everybody’s arguing about different points here but missing the elephant in the room… It will be a system run/managed by ACTION/ACT government. This fact is a dead give away that it will either be dis-functional, offline for more than 50% of the time, or grossly inaccurate. Look at the track record of the bus system, buses are either late, early, or broken down – none of which benefits commuters. What makes people think that this system will be any better?

johnboy said :

Just being able to tell if you’ve already missed the bus before leaving the house will be a considerable boon!

I agree with the sentiment, but I don’t think this new system will provide a customer benefit proportionate to the financial outlay. That is, it does not provide good value for money. Then again, neither does ACTION as a whole.

wildturkeycanoe said :

Knowing that you missed it before you get to the stop isn’t going to get you to work any earlier, whether you are waiting for half an hour in the cold,pouring rain or sitting in your lounge chair at home. How are you minimizing time wastage by turning up or not turning up just after the bus went past? Drive and you’ll save even more time.

Wasted time is standing at a bus stop, staring into space for half an hour because your bus came ridiculously early, or didn’t show up, or you were early and it was late. Knowing exactly when to leave the house gives me an opportunity to do something useful with that time, hence it is not wasted.

All the 25 buses are pretty much on time today. I bet Shane is reading this.

Canberroid said :

So you think that waiting around for half an hour or so after missing an early bus is an acceptable solution? Or arriving ten minutes early every time and adding even more time to an already slow bus commute? Do we all need to get off your lawn?

The only complaint I have about this NXTBUS thing is that it wasn’t introduced 5+ years ago. Anyone who catches a bus that is regularly at least five minutes early or late will appreciate being able to time their walk to the bus stop so as to minimise time wastage. This system will improve patronage of the bus system and hopefully mean less traffic on the roads and a more cost effective bus system.

Like you just said, if the bus is regularly 5 minutes early, why aren’t you at the stop 10 minutes before it arrives? Knowing that you missed it before you get to the stop isn’t going to get you to work any earlier, whether you are waiting for half an hour in the cold,pouring rain or sitting in your lounge chair at home. How are you minimizing time wastage by turning up or not turning up just after the bus went past? Drive and you’ll save even more time.
I cannot see this system alone attracting a heap of new customers to the bus system, what incentive is there apart from knowing the buses aren’t running on time and frustrating you even more?

This would have made a big difference to me when I was catching the bus regularly – the regular frustration of arriving at the stop five minutes early to allow for a quick bus, only for the bus to arrive late or not at all (did I miss it?), was a major factor in driving me to buy a car. I love travelling on public transport in other cities with these systems, and I might even go back to catching the bus here if this thing works well.

We find the Sydney Buses Txtbus system really useful. Unlike the proposed Canberra system, it doesn’t have realtime display at bus stops, but it provides a text message showing all the buses that will arrive over the next 30 minutes at a particular bus stop, based on their current GPS identified location.

You just need to text the 6 digit stop number to the Txtbus number and it immediately returns a list of the buses that will arrrive in how many minutes. After using it for several months I can vouch for its speed and reliability.

To see how it works, text the stop number 205018 (Broadway near City Road at Ultimo outbound) to Sydney Buses Txtbus on 0488 898 287.

I would think it would be a lot less expensive to install and run than the proposed Canberra system.

wildturkeycanoe said :

no idea said :

If it reduces that sh*t have I missed the bus cause it’s early / not coming dilemma? please introduce it ASAP

If the bus is early and you missed it, you should have left earlier to get to the stop. It’s like saying “Sorry officer, I was only speeding because I’m running late.”.
If the app or display says the bus is not coming, how is the whole NXTBUS system supposed to overcome this problem?? You still won’t get anywhere but you are more aware of the fact you aren’t getting anywhere.
How about everyone supporting this system get on their internet or go to a post office, download the timetables, get a hard copy and get to the bus stops on time and stop complaining how technology isn’t good enough. Should the selected vehicle be a little too early and you miss the bus, quit using it and wait for the next one. I don’t need a million dollar system to tell me a basic fact I can work out on my own.

So you think that waiting around for half an hour or so after missing an early bus is an acceptable solution? Or arriving ten minutes early every time and adding even more time to an already slow bus commute? Do we all need to get off your lawn?

The only complaint I have about this NXTBUS thing is that it wasn’t introduced 5+ years ago. Anyone who catches a bus that is regularly at least five minutes early or late will appreciate being able to time their walk to the bus stop so as to minimise time wastage. This system will improve patronage of the bus system and hopefully mean less traffic on the roads and a more cost effective bus system.

When I lived in London in the mid-1990s this technology was already in use and it was amazing to see that yes, 3 buses for the same route were due to arrive at the same time, and they did. The only advance the NXTBUS will have over 1990s London bus system will be that the info can be accessed via smart phones and tablets. Wow … not.

Will this stop the 25 bus running early every morning?

no idea said :

If it reduces that sh*t have I missed the bus cause it’s early / not coming dilemma? please introduce it ASAP

If the bus is early and you missed it, you should have left earlier to get to the stop. It’s like saying “Sorry officer, I was only speeding because I’m running late.”.
If the app or display says the bus is not coming, how is the whole NXTBUS system supposed to overcome this problem?? You still won’t get anywhere but you are more aware of the fact you aren’t getting anywhere.
How about everyone supporting this system get on their internet or go to a post office, download the timetables, get a hard copy and get to the bus stops on time and stop complaining how technology isn’t good enough. Should the selected vehicle be a little too early and you miss the bus, quit using it and wait for the next one. I don’t need a million dollar system to tell me a basic fact I can work out on my own.

TP 3000 said :

I can’t see why people can’t read a timetable & plan their trip accordingly.
Where I live in Kambah, I leave home when the bus leaves Tuggeranong Bus Station & by the time I walk down to the bus stop I have enough time to rest & get my ticket ready.

If I live/work close to where the bus leaves from, then I would plan to rock up either just before or exactly when the bus is due to leave.

And you can do this without an “app”, “real time passenger information system” or other such aids for the technologically addicted!! Good on you, two thumbs up. [said with sincerity by the way, as written text often doesn’t convey when someone is being sarcastic]

thatsnotme said :

wildturkeycanoe said :

Knowing whether a bus is on-time, early or late does not change the fact it can take up to two hours to get from one end of Canberra to another? Who cares if you can see on-line where your bus is, when you are waiting at the depot? It still comes and takes you where it goes. This is a waste of resources that could be better spent on improving the actual network/infrastructure.
If one person can tell me how this is any better than a timetable, gets you there quicker or helps you get to your destination please tell me.

I dunno, I’d have thought that knowing exactly where your bus is so that you don’t miss the damn thing gets you there quicker? Knowing which bus has a bike rack helps me get to my destination. Both things that the timetable can’t / won’t tell me right now.

I’m not sure if you simply lack imagination, or you really are just too thick to see how this will be welcomed with open arms by practically every person who regularly catches a bus?

If you regularly catch a bus, you already know when it arrives and will be waiting for it. You don’t need a digital monitor to tell you when it’s coming, let alone an imagination.

I can’t see why people can’t read a timetable & plan their trip accordingly.
Where I live in Kambah, I leave home when the bus leaves Tuggeranong Bus Station & by the time I walk down to the bus stop I have enough time to rest & get my ticket ready.

If I live/work close to where the bus leaves from, then I would plan to rock up either just before or exactly when the bus is due to leave.

wildturkeycanoe said :

Knowing whether a bus is on-time, early or late does not change the fact it can take up to two hours to get from one end of Canberra to another? Who cares if you can see on-line where your bus is, when you are waiting at the depot? It still comes and takes you where it goes. This is a waste of resources that could be better spent on improving the actual network/infrastructure.
If one person can tell me how this is any better than a timetable, gets you there quicker or helps you get to your destination please tell me.

I dunno, I’d have thought that knowing exactly where your bus is so that you don’t miss the damn thing gets you there quicker? Knowing which bus has a bike rack helps me get to my destination. Both things that the timetable can’t / won’t tell me right now.

I’m not sure if you simply lack imagination, or you really are just too thick to see how this will be welcomed with open arms by practically every person who regularly catches a bus?

If it reduces that sh*t have I missed the bus cause it’s early / not coming dilemma? please introduce it ASAP

Knowing whether a bus is on-time, early or late does not change the fact it can take up to two hours to get from one end of Canberra to another? Who cares if you can see on-line where your bus is, when you are waiting at the depot? It still comes and takes you where it goes. This is a waste of resources that could be better spent on improving the actual network/infrastructure.
If one person can tell me how this is any better than a timetable, gets you there quicker or helps you get to your destination please tell me.
I can’t see this being used to control traffic lights, unless the infrastructure is there. If it was, police, fire and ambulance would already have the technology to get themselves to incidents much sooner.
Also, in the quotes from damien haas, relating to “Increased use of public transport is linked to the reliability of services.”, what a load of BS. If more people use the services, it will take longer to load and unload buses, hence making the schedule harder to achieve. Yes, I can hear the “but with less cars on the road the buses will be quicker” crowd, how often do you see a bus getting stuck behind a car these days, especially with all the bus lanes everywhere? I hope this isn’t going to waste millions of dollars, just to keep some PS techno-nerd employed.

well this may be of use if done properly, ie uses GPS to know which stop you are at and can tell you where the nearest buses are the routes numbers and destination and approximate arrival time at the stop you are at. Actually they could even put a QR code at bus stops for those without GPS, although i think everything that could run the app has it these days. It would also be good to have some electronic info system at interchanges…

awesome find there Damien

It has been a big (and expensive) project, surely 7 or 8 years to deliver is reasonable

Is this 2005 again?

ACT Government
2005-2006 BUDGET

MEDIA RELEASE

REAL-TIME BUS INFORMATION A REALITY

The ACT Government’s initiative of $6.76 million for the introduction of Real Time Passenger Information system for Canberra’s ACTION bus network will allow people to know exactly when their buses will be arriving.

Planning Minister Simon Corbell said today that the system would monitor the location of all ACTION buses, allowing passengers to get information when the next bus is due through electronic and LCD display screens at bus stops and interchanges.

“This measure has been proven to increase patronage on routes by up to 20 per cent,” he said.

“Real time information systems use a variety of technologies to track the location of buses and provide accurate bus arrival times at interchanges and stops along route.

“The system will also interface with Canberra’s traffic lights, allowing priority to buses when required to better ensure on-time running.”

Mr Corbell said the provision of real time information was a further demonstration that the Government was fulfilling its election commitment to implement the Sustainable Transport Plan.

“Real Time Information will boost the effectiveness of associated projects under the transport plan such as the Belconnen to City busway, but also enhance our public transport network while these projects are realised.

“It is anticipated that real time information will improve passenger knowledge and therefore their ability to use the network, and will also increase new and infrequent use of public transport.

“This project meets the Government’s objective of reliable, efficient and sustainable transport, therefore avoiding the need for road solutions for traffic problems.

“Increased use of public transport is linked to the reliability of services. Real time information will ensure passengers accurately know when their bus is due to arrive, building confidence that ACTION services can be relied upon.”

Real time information has been implemented in cities including Auckland, Christchurch, Brisbane and Adelaide, which report improved patronage of between 10 and 30 per cent.

Released:3 May 2005

What an unfriendly, stupid bloody name that is. Who accepted that? And what were you smoking at the time?

Wouldn’t names like BusTimes or BusInfo or BusData be more appropriate and helpful to those wanting to use a bus service?

Why would you name it something so awkward, so obtuse? Are there that many votes in appealing to lazy SMSers?

Cool “real time passenger information”. So will I need to know the name of the passenger before I look them up?

Personally, if I’m catching a bus, I’d be far more interested in knowing about the bus than the passengers.