Nearly two months after NorthJersey.com revealed a data issue that prevented transit, Google Maps and other apps from providing real-time information about New Jersey Transit buses, real-time departure information for New Jersey Transit buses is now at least Now available again in one third-party navigation app. schedule.
The owners of Transit, an app that provides mass transit maps, schedules, and departure times for many major transit agencies including the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Philadelphia’s SEPTA, and Boston’s T, are using data from the New Jersey Department of Transportation. Users were informed about the refund via email.
“Back in October, we asked New Jersey Transit users to speak up about how important real-time arrival information is to their daily commute. If you spoke up, NJ Transit listened!” The app was used by approximately 350,000 people to navigate NJ Transit’s bus system, according to an email message from Transit.
“Real-time information is back in the Transit app and better than ever. Thanks to New Jersey Transit’s new and improved bus location data, you can now see your buses on a map,” the email said. ” is written.
This summer, some apps no longer show real-time bus arrival information.
For years, NJ Transit bus riders have been able to see real-time bus arrival information in a variety of apps, including Transit, Moovit, Citymapper and NJ Transit’s own app. However, in July, users noticed that while NJ Transit’s own app continued to provide bus arrival information, real-time bus arrival information was not working in their preferred third-party apps. I started.
The transit app’s developers reached out to the New Jersey Transit Authority to resolve the issue, but transit app spokesperson Stephen Miller told NorthJersey.com in October that after several months of productive conversations. He said there had been little progress since then.
But a lot of work has happened since then.
The New Jersey Department of Transportation’s data feed, which was riddled with hundreds of errors, has been significantly cleaned up. It’s a tedious process that requires scouring the code, finding errors, tweaking the product, and testing whether it’s fixed.
“New Jersey Transit is constantly working to optimize the flow of data to third-party app developers,” said Cairo Mulumba, a spokesperson for the agency.
more:NJ Transit is testing new app to provide real-time bus information to the hearing and visually impaired
Solve a problem
Three main data feeds are critical to providing accurate information to traffic navigation apps: vehicle location, predicted arrivals, and service alerts.
These sources work together to send detailed information to the app, allowing users to track buses in real-time on a map, see a countdown clock showing how long until a bus arrives, and track vehicle movement. Learn about detours and obstacles that can affect your time.
“In recent weeks, New Jersey Transit staff has done a lot of work to improve the data feed that shows real-time bus locations,” Miller said in an email. “Combined with Transit’s proprietary arrival prediction algorithm, we are once again able to provide real-time bus tracking for NJ Transit to our passengers.”
Real-time departure information for NJ Transit buses may be delayed in other third-party apps such as Google, Apple, and Moovit. This is because there are still errors in the arrival prediction data feed. Transportation app developers were able to avoid this problem because they use proprietary algorithms to predict bus arrival times.
When asked if NJ Transit’s countdown clock data feed would be improved in the future, Mulumba did not directly answer, but said, “Most of the work that needed to be done had to be done on the TransitApp side. “The countdown is a unique feature of TransitApp.”
Another reason why live information is slow to reach other apps is that NJ Transit’s data feed is not publicly available. NJ Transit must request permission from developers, but once permission is granted, the data is free. By comparison, MTA and SEPTA make it easier to download data from their websites.
Vincent Oria, a computer science professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, said sharing such data could be useful if developers or researchers are interested in it.
O’Rear said sharing may be in the interest of the NJ Transit Authority, “but the data needs to be anonymized so it doesn’t show any personal information without giving away any information about the bus passengers.” “I don’t understand why they don’t make it public,” he said, adding that if the data does not include personal information and only includes buses, then the location information is not made public.
Transportation apps step in to help other agencies
Without accurate, first-hand information, riders told NorthJersey.com they were forced to miss important appointments, be late for work, or, in the most extreme cases, discourage would-be riders from using transportation altogether. said.
Many of the issues that New Jersey Transit customers have complained about over the years, such as buses disappearing from apps and inaccurate arrival information, also plague other transit agencies’ technology services.
more:Are NJ Transit buses on time? Do you know?Passengers and travel app makers claim data is flawed
OC Transpo, a transit agency in Ottawa, Canada, partners with transit app developers to improve data feeds, test new information, uncover sources of some errors, and make improvements for customers. added. OC Transpo and Transit discovered the issue was caused by the way the bus driver logged into the system, causing his GPS feed on the bus, which sends location data to the app, to fail.
Like NJ Transit, SEPTA has had similar data error issues in its real-time data feeds, causing buses to disappear from radar or display inaccurate arrival times. According to Billy Penn’s article, SEPTA hired Transit App employees to solve what he called one of its biggest data problems. It’s about communicating detours that let drivers know what to do while keeping information clear on the customer side.
Improvements in technology always require attention
Transit agencies like NJ Transit, SEPTA, and OC Transpo have worked to improve their technical services in recent years, but the investment of time and money in these improvements has meant that they have not been able to make the most of their time and money, including ensuring that buses and trains actually run. It competes with other pressing issues in transportation.
Just like constant repair work keeps buses and trains running, improving technology requires ongoing maintenance and attention, and it’s never a box to check, Miller said.
“Transit agencies everywhere are constantly working to improve the quality of real-time information, just like New Jersey Transit has done here,” Miller said. “We know that because we are helping test these improvements and making them available to riders through the app.
“This is very technical and fundamental, and it’s essential that we continue to do so to continue to improve and provide the frictionless experience that transit users deserve.” He said.