OpenPlans developed a non-proprietary open-source software MTA BusTime and it offers real time bus location information for B63 customers.You can get all information online by text message and on your smartphone and MTA BusTime coming to Staten Island next……
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced the arrival of MTA BusTime the MTA’s real-time bus information pilot on New York City Transit’s B63 bus route in Brooklyn. The program is the latest initiative to alert riders to the status of their commute in real time with actual bus locations available on the web by text message and on your Smartphone.MTA BusTime will be expanded across the city with every bus on Staten Island due to receive the new technology this year.MTA BusTime will take the guesswork out of waiting for next bus ride through enhanced global positioning system devices, installed on 30 buses along the B63 route, that triangulate bus locations in real time.
Electronically-savvy customers can also use their Smartphones to snap a picture of a two-dimensional barcode installed at every B63 stop. A barcode-reading app available free of charge, can then interpret this information and take you directly to MTA mobile website.B63 system was developed by the MTA in collaboration with a non-profit civic group called OpenPlans utilizing non-proprietary, open standards and software for development and deployment allowing for increased flexibility and a cost reduction approaching 70 percent.This means MTA BusTime can be expanded to more bus routes more quickly.
MTA BusTime is the most recent MTA customer communications innovation which provides riders with the information they need.Customers at more than 140 subway stations are now benefitting from next train arrival information. That number is scheduled to swell to 200 stations by the end of the year. Subway customers can also sign up for email and text alerts letting them know about service interruptions both planned and unplanned. For complete information on MTA Bus Time, customers can pick up the smart-looking green and white brochure on the B63 buses or log onto MTA website at www.MTA.info/bustime.
