Electronic bus stop timetables

Jayuu · 06-09-2011 10:13PM

Lets get real here. The Transport for Ireland site has been active for a long while now and all it has ever had on it is four tabs about the Real Time Information System.

If this is to become the main hub for transport information they could at least have links to Bus Eireann, Irish Rail and Dublin Bus timetables in the short term.

What's even more crazy about this site is that under the "Future Plans" section it has a preview image of the RTPI site but not a link to the actual active site! That's just ridiculous.

dubhthach · 06-09-2011 10:25PM

Noticed the sign outside Tesco Merrion is up and running now. What's the scheduled roll out of these does anyone know?

DjFlin · 06-09-2011 10:28PM

I saw one going up outside Liffey Valley today. And another in Lucan, down by CBS. Have yet to see any around Leixlip.

L1011 · 06-09-2011 10:31PM

DjFlin wrote: »

I saw one going up outside Liffey Valley today. And another in Lucan, down by CBS. Have yet to see any around Leixlip.

More than half a decade too late to be of any use to me to see if I have time to run in to Molloys before the bus comes :mad:

That's a stop that the sign will be fairly appreciated on.

DjFlin · 06-09-2011 10:41PM

MYOB wrote: »

More than half a decade too late to be of any use to me to see if I have time to run in to Molloys before the bus comes :mad:

That's a stop that the sign will be fairly appreciated on.

Molloys, one of the last great newsagents. Oh the sweets they sold :rolleyes:

bg07 · 18-09-2011 07:23PM

It's planned to launch the webpage in the next few weeks
Link

Wild Bill · 18-09-2011 11:49PM

DjFlin wrote: »

Molloys, one of the last great newsagents. Oh the sweets they sold :rolleyes:

Another Molloys newsagents! There was one at the bus stop at the top on Bray Main St on the towards-Greystones side; great place for tea and a bun while waiting for the 45 to the Boghall Rd.

Sweet, sweet memories.....of long, long waits:rolleyes:

strassenwo!f · 24-09-2011 12:46PM

I was in Dublin for the last couple of weeks and, overall, the electronic signs seem to be working well.

Any word on how Dublin Bus are progressing with the printed timetables for each stop, showing the arrival times at the particular stop? They should be even easier to produce now, with all the information coming from the electronic signs.

One thing - unrelated to the electronic signs - which surprised me on my visit was the continued large number of out of service buses. For example, on the second day of my visit, I went to the no.3 bus stop outside Clery's on O'Connell Street to go to Irishtown. I arrived at the stop at 1655 and the first five (yes, 5) buses passing were "As Seirbhis". There was then a working bus followed by two further As Seirbhis buses. Why there should be such a large proportion of out of service buses travelling along the country's busiest street at the start of rush hour, with the bus stops packed, was a mystery. Isn't this the best time to use them?

Generally, though, I was (as usual) impressed with the service provided by DB. In what is not an easy city to negotiate, those drivers do a pretty good job.

LXFlyer · 24-09-2011 06:06PM

I suspect that at the moment the main drive is to implement the Network Direct changes. Once that is completed (probably early in the new year) the next big project will be a major overhaul of information such as maps, timetables etc. Given the frequency of changes right now (virtually every fortnight) any such information would be rendered out of date fairly quickly.

Wild Bill · 25-09-2011 03:25PM

Anyone know when we will be able to get the time of arrival at our local bus-stop on our phones?

Like, when will the next #47 arrive at the stop up the road? - rather than the fairly useless information of when it was due to leave the terminus.

LXFlyer · 25-09-2011 04:59PM

http://www.dublinbus.ie/en/News-Centre/Travel-News/Bus-Stop-Number-Campaign/

Stevek101 · 25-09-2011 08:28PM

http://www.dublinbus.ie/rtpi/ has been working for a day or so now.

loyatemu · 25-09-2011 10:45PM

Stevek101 wrote: »

http://www.dublinbus.ie/rtpi/ has been working for a day or so now.

that site seems to have information that rtpi.ie does not (eg stops in North Wicklow are live on the dublin bus site, but not on the RTPI site). whats the story there, are they not operating off the same database?

Stevek101 · 25-09-2011 10:51PM

It seems to be using estimates for the stops that are not active yet.

25-09-2011 10:52PM

loyatemu wrote: »

that site seems to have information that rtpi.ie does not (eg stops in North Wicklow are live on the dublin bus site, but not on the RTPI site). whats the story there, are they not operating off the same database?

Yep, stop 1515 is live on dublinbus.ie and isn't on rtpi.ie

KD345 · 25-09-2011 11:42PM

strassenwo!f wrote: »

For example, on the second day of my visit, I went to the no.3 bus stop outside Clery's on O'Connell Street to go to Irishtown. I arrived at the stop at 1655 and the first five (yes, 5) buses passing were "As Seirbhis". There was then a working bus followed by two further As Seirbhis buses. Why there should be such a large proportion of out of service buses travelling along the country's busiest street at the start of rush hour, with the bus stops packed, was a mystery. Isn't this the best time to use them?

Judging by the time you mention, I would guess these buses were getting in position to begin their peak time duty and were heading to their terminus. Between 4.30 and 6pm a lot of buses begin service at Belfield/Waterloo Road and Baggot Street and then work in service to areas like Swords/Lucan/Maynooth/Blanchardstown. These buses work out of service from the depot and then start service.

LXFlyer · 26-09-2011 06:23AM

Stevek101 wrote: »

http://www.dublinbus.ie/rtpi/ has been working for a day or so now.

Not officially though - it's due to be launched this week.

Wild Bill · 26-09-2011 07:41AM

This needs some work!

Stop 7415 - said (@ 07.35)
#47 due at 07.42
#118 at 08.01
#47 at 08.12

Then at 07.37 the first bus was gone and it merely said

#118 at 08.01
#47 at 08.12

Bit of a downer arriving 5 minutes early at stop to find the bus gone

Wild Bill · 26-09-2011 07:51AM

The website says of stop 7415 "expect delays" while the ETA of the #118 had just been brought forward to 07.55.

Six minutes quicker thanks to the delays!

alie · 26-09-2011 07:54AM

KC61 wrote: »

Jayuu wrote: »

As chance would happen I ended up at the Donneycarney bus stop yesterday waiting for a 128 so I had a chance to see it in action. The times come down to "1min" and then say "Due" as the bus in its final approach. This will be handy when you can't see far up the road.

It seemed to be fairly accurate although when I arrived it told me a 128 was due. Nearly a minute later this changed back to "2mins" and then counted down but it did predict the arrival accurately at that stage. I also did notice other times move upwards by a minute as they were recalculated. There was also a 20B which passed by but didn't have to stop. It was around 20 seconds before it disappeared off the list.

Clearly some more tweaking on time calculations is going to be required although given the unpredictable nature of Dublin's traffic there are probably always going to be inaccuracies. However I think its a great addition to the network and I can't wait to see more of them.

I think that you would have to allow a margin of error of a minute or two to allow for the vagaries of traffic, traffic lights changing to red etc.

I saw some in rathmines and there are pole mountings in Rathfarnham too.

Condatis · 26-09-2011 08:05AM

Several times while waiting for the #79 on Aston Quay the arrival time showed that a bus expected in, for example, five minutes.

That was in accordance with the printed timetable – but then that bus disappeared off the display with the information for the next one perhaps 30 minutes later.

Cool Mo D · 26-09-2011 11:52AM

Condatis wrote: »

Several times while waiting for the #79 on Aston Quay the arrival time showed that a bus expected in, for example, five minutes.

That was in accordance with the printed timetable – but then that bus disappeared off the display with the information for the next one perhaps 30 minutes later.

I've seen that happen at other terminus stops, where the screen only shows the timetable information, and the bus drops off the screen a minute or so after it's due, but the bus still turns up a few minutes later.

padrepio · 26-09-2011 12:40PM

its probably been mentioned before but could they not get some software engineer students to develop an application that would track all public transport vehicles in the country. Surely with RFID tags this is possible? charge people 3 or 4 euro to download it to their smart phone and the need for an electronic timetable at each stop would soon disappear?

markpb · 26-09-2011 12:44PM

padrepio wrote: »

its probably been mentioned before but could they not get some software engineer students to develop an application that would track all public transport vehicles in the country. Surely with RFID tags this is possible? charge people 3 or 4 euro to download it to their smart phone and the need for an electronic timetable at each stop would soon disappear?

All Bus Eireann and Dublin Bus buses are (now) fitted with GPS/radio systems to track their location. Dart and Luas are tracked using systems built into the tracks/signalling.

RFID is used for close-proximity radio messages, around 5-10cm at most. There's no easy way to use RFID to track buses - you'd need something strong than RFID and a network of transponders fitted all across the city/country with the associated power and network infrastructure.

bk · 26-09-2011 02:16PM

markpb wrote: »

RFID is used for close-proximity radio messages, around 5-10cm at most. There's no easy way to use RFID to track buses - you'd need something strong than RFID and a network of transponders fitted all across the city/country with the associated power and network infrastructure.

What padrepio probably meant is if you had an RFID tag at each bus stop and a RFID (NFC) capable smart phone, then by simply moving the smart phone over the RFID tag, the smart phone automatically displays the arrival times for that stop.

It is certainly possible, unfortunately most smart phones can't read RFID tags today, but hopefully that will change in the next 5 years making this possible.

markpb · 26-09-2011 02:28PM

bk wrote: »

What padrepio probably meant is if you had an RFID tag at each bus stop and a RFID (NFC) capable smart phone, then by simply moving the smart phone over the RFID tag, the smart phone automatically displays the arrival times for that stop.

It is certainly possible, unfortunately most smart phones can't read RFID tags today, but hopefully that will change in the next 5 years making this possible.

Ah yeah, sorry padrepio, I misunderstood.

padrepio · 27-09-2011 03:28AM

markpb wrote: »

Ah yeah, sorry padrepio, I misunderstood.

no problem. I wouldnt be up to speed on the technology so thanks to bk for explaining how it could be possible in future.

Even with google maps and GPS you would think some means of tracking vehicles is available today.

On the RFID tags, company I work with have implemented solutions mainly in airports, shopping centres, football stadiums for parents worried about their kids going missing. I know it's a closed environment but hopefully the technology isnt too far off that it could be implemented in a small country like ireland.

Jesus Wept · 27-09-2011 04:32AM

Electronic signs - good.
Fewer and fewer bus and routes - not good. I'd be quicker walking to town a lot of the time.

bk · 27-09-2011 10:54AM

padrepio wrote: »

Even with google maps and GPS you would think some means of tracking vehicles is available today.

It already is available today, for example:
http://www.dublinbus.ie/en/RTPI/Sources-of-Real-Time-Information/?searchtype=view&searchquery=278

And a couple of apps exist for both iPhone and Android to access and use this info:

http://dublinbuslive.com/ Best viewed on iPhone/Android
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dublin-bus/id450455266?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bus-time-dublin/id456379666?mt=8

However I strongly agree that Dublin Bus and the NTA should be making this data available on Goggle Maps & Transit using the GTFS-Realtime format.

Wild Bill · 28-09-2011 08:20PM

Well, whatever the system, I can testify it is less than useless forecasting the #47 at stop 7415.

Less than useless 'cos before this you hadn't a clue when the bus will arrive; now you haven't a clue but the simple-minded think they have.

:mad:

Electronic bus stop timetables

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