Full Description
SmartBus Miami is a mobile app that gives public transit users in Miami-Dade county access to real-time MetroBus arrival times.
CASE SCENARIO:
It’s 10:17AM and you know that the #7 bus runs every 30 minutes. According to the official county schedule, the next arrival time is 10:30AM. If the bus arrives on time, you’ll be able to eat breakfast and check your email before leaving home? But what if the bus arrives early? Do you really want to rush out of the house not knowing whether your wait will be 2 minutes or 32 minutes?
With SmartBus Miami, you’ll get the real-time knowledge that you need to decide how to schedule your time most effectively. Expected Metrobus arrival times are updated frequently, so you’ll know whether it’s worth trying to make the next bus, or if it’s better to wait for the following bus.
TO USE THE APP:
Choose the route and bus stop of interest to you (to plan for connecting routes, you can choose more than one route/stop pair). The app will display the positions of up to three busses en route to the given location and estimated arrival time of each bus.
BEHIND THE SCENES:
The bus contains a mobile device that its driver can use to state that it has passed a given bus stop. A timestamp is compared to the scheduled time to determine if the bus is ahead of schedule or behind schedule. The device’s location is compared to the known locations of bus stops to be sure that the driver’s signal is valid. Valid signals are used to broadcast updates to the phones of users who register for that particular route, informing them of the bus's current location and the expected arrival time.
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