Stuttering buses

[Albert]

Recently many of the buses have been saying "stop req ... stop requested".

Wonder why they've developed a speech impediment? And only some of them? (The #19 seems to be the most afflicted.)

[adrian]

finally someone noticed it.

I thought they gotten smarter, because when it was announcing the stops, someone would pull the stop requested, interupting the stops announcements, then it would continue to say the stops.

[Albert]

"I thought they gotten smarter"

Nope, if they'd gotten smarter they wouldn't do that spiel about removing your bike from the bike rack .... unless there was actually a bike on the bike rack.

(Another sign of becoming an old fut ... remembering the days when buses didn't talk.)

[adrian]

"I thought they gotten smarter"

Nope, if they'd gotten smarter they wouldn't do that spiel about removing your bike from the bike rack .... unless there was actually a bike on the bike rack.

(Another sign of becoming an old fut ... remembering the days when buses didn't talk.)
Oh yeah. But those things are random. One time, on the H1 freeway (on the A Express) the notification about the cross walk ("please let the bus depart, before crossing the street" or something like that) chimed on. I could only hear part of it because of the noise.

[melorama]

Does anyone know if the voice "locator" feature of those buses are triggered via GPS? If so, it would be neat/nice of them to hack up a web-enabled interface that tells you EXACTLY where the buses are on thier routes and when they will arrive at thier stops, much like this very cool system:

http://www.nextbus.com

[adrian]

Does anyone know if the voice "locator" feature of those buses are triggered via GPS? If so, it would be neat/nice of them to hack up a web-enabled interface that tells you EXACTLY where the buses are on thier routes and when they will arrive at thier stops, much like this very cool system:

http://www.nextbus.com
Apparently, the bus stop locations are prerecorded, and I guess the bus driver has to stay on a tight schedule to keep it accurate, or else you'll be having "early stops".

It'd be nice if that system was implemented though, but then who'd pay for the upgrade? The prices are already jacked up because of the drivers who wanted a pay raise (and I think they deserved it, but I wish that they didn't have to go on strike for it).

[pzarquon]

I'm pretty sure the location announcements on our buses are GPS based (I think I read about the upgrade somewhere). The thing is, having a GPS device telling the bus where it is, and having that information sent back out somewhere else are two different things. The latter is a much more complicated proposition.

Having GPS technology deployed is a third of the battle, sure. But it'll take a little more than flipping a switch to get that data transmitted to a centralized location, and then redistributing it to a public reference.

Sadly, I think most of the recent rate hikes are already spoken for... but I'd love to see it. We can't keep throwing around "best bus system in the nation" and not constantly improve it.

Especially since our buses run on Hawaiian time!

I'd much rather sit in my living room, tracking my bus on TheBus.org until it's time to go out and meet it, rather than sitting out in the sun or rain just fuming and wondering if I've missed it.

[adrian]

I'd much rather sit in my living room, tracking my bus on TheBus.org until it's time to go out and meet it, rather than sitting out in the sun or rain just fuming and wondering if I've missed it.
I wish that could happen, especially since they're remodeling the Waipahu Transit right now, and I have to wait near a porta-potty every morning.

[adrian]

Ironically, on my morning commute to school on the Route A bus, the "information display" didn't work. It only showed the date and time, and nothing else; no bus stop information, no stop requested, nothing. The only thing I hated about that, was when people kept on pulling the stop line. Some pulled it 10 times (when you're bored, you have time to count some things) and other people tried, but failed. Luckily, no one missed their stopped.

[Albert]

There was, for a brief time, at the stop across from the State Library, an electronic sign which showed you where the next "A" bus was on its way to you. Guess it didn't work well enough to keep it?

[adrian]

There was, for a brief time, at the stop across from the State Library, an electronic sign which showed you where the next "A" bus was on its way to you. Guess it didn't work well enough to keep it?
The only way that'll work, is if they place it on a well traveled area, or at an event.

They should make that available online, and all one need, is to input their address, then they'll get the nearest bus stop, available buses, and when the next buses will arrive.

[adrian]

I think this is the appropriate thread to put it in, but this morning, we were transfered from the "High capacity Route A bus" to the "normal capacity" (the ones that doesn't bend at the middle, and have the rainbow design). The bus wasn't that full, but when we cramed into the normal bus, there wasn't any seats left for any other riders.

But they did have that new scrolling marquee, and now, it tells if the next stop is a transfer point, and you can read the upcoming "points of interest" at the next stop! No more listening to the announcer where the points of interest is, you can read it too! (but it was funny when we was approaching the downtown transfer point, that the voice was too fast for the text, and it seemed like the text was going 10x faster to keep up with the voice)

[scrivener]

The buses are GPSed; there was an interesting discussion about it on HPR a couple of months ago. There are big plans for this technology, somewhere down the line.

Even better than being able to catch the locations of the buses online would be, at major transfer points such as Punchbowl, a map of the area with buses labeled with their route numbers. This would give people an idea of whether or not they had time to duck into the convenience store for a Diet Pepsi or if it'd be worth sitting down and opening up the paper.

[Glen Miyashiro]

And of course even better would be when you've got your own GPS/wireless gadget that can find out where the buses are through an online data feed, and compare that info to your current location so you don't need to be at a wired bus stop terminal to know.

[adrian]

And of course even better would be when you've got your own GPS/wireless gadget that can find out where the buses are through an online data feed, and compare that info to your current location so you don't need to be at a wired bus stop terminal to know.
Now that will cost too much.

[Albert]

Well, this absurd new "E" bus does have signs at most stops which tell you when the next one will arrive. I was at one stop where I could see (yet another) "E" bus approaching a few blocks away and the sign said it would be six minutes before the next one. Maybe it meant the one after the one I could see.

It's really annoying to sit and wait for the bus you want and see three or four of these "E" buses arrive mostly empty and depart mostly empty.

[Serenity]

Well, this absurd new "E" bus does have signs at most stops which tell you when the next one will arrive. I was at one stop where I could see (yet another) "E" bus approaching a few blocks away and the sign said it would be six minutes before the next one. Maybe it meant the one after the one I could see.

It's really annoying to sit and wait for the bus you want and see three or four of these "E" buses arrive mostly empty and depart mostly empty.

Perhaps, passengers are not sure where & which route the new E-buses go to, so they don't consider riding in those buses. Myabe, they are not use to that type of a bus, & refuse to get on. Are we charged the same to get on those new E buses, or are they free for the time being, to get more passengers to ride in it?. Just curiouse.

Aloha & Happy Holidays.

[Albert]

"Are we charged the same to get on those new E buses, or are they free for the time being"

It's the standard two-dollar fare or a pass. And I think it's true that many people just don't know where those buses go. I didn't know until last week that they stop right outside the Ward16 theatres.

But I also think this is going to be a repeat of the "A" bus launch, when those buses ran about every ten minutes. (Wonderful!) But it didn't last long, especially when they extended the route out to Waipahu.

I'm sure we'll soon see fewer "E" buses per hour, just wish they'd expand it to the airport.

[helen]

I think the original plan was to have more than one route using the BRT style of doing things.

However neither of the general electon mayor canidaties thought BRT was the way to go even through the current administration wanted this to happen.

I tried the E once but I have to go out of my way to use it.