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Where Have All the Bus Stops Gone?
By Brett on Tue, 06/14/2011 - 12:15pm
Fire up Google Maps to find out where to catch the bus, and it won't help much; dozens or hundreds of stops are displayed in the wrong locations, have the wrong bus lines associated with them, or aren't shown at all.
Try this mess at Brigham Circle, for example. You'll spend a long time waiting for the 39 on Tremont Street, yet that's where Google Maps now declares the 39 stops; the stop for the 39 on Huntington Avenue is gone.
By the way, here's what we were promised for live transit updates about a week ago. Here's what we got instead.
Want to report that the stations or stops are in the wrong locations? Sorry, can't do that.
Neighborhoods:
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Comments
Wow
Better to have no info than wrong info - that could throw a lot of people off!
Works for me (sorta)
Many bus stops I looked at are in the wrong location. But it does report the correct information, including real-time data that matches the NextBus.com feed.
Some stops do, many stops don't.
Many stops don't show any live info - sometimes ones that are the next stop on the route from one which does. You'll notice it's not available in either of the two popups I've shown screencaps of.
So use a NextBus app
Problem solved.
A link is always useful
NextBus
There have been some hiccups in other cities during rollout. Stewart, how well is the app performing for you here in Boston? Which routes are you using it for?
Some iOs specific apps: theNextTrain and OpenMBTA
Also, for Androided uhubers, there's BostonBusMap and CatchTheBus.
No problems here
I've been using the Android versions of MBTA Alerts and Anystop: MBTA with little to no problem, mostly on the 66, 57 and 70 routes.
No matter what app you're using, one thing is consistent about NextBus data: once you get under the 60-second mark, the times shown are no longer 100% reliable. You could read that you have 48 seconds to get to the stop and look up to see the bus trundling past you, or you could read that the bus will be there in 10 seconds and it won't show up for 45 seconds after that. But times accurate to within 30-90 seconds are still hugely useful, and easy enough to adjust for. If I know it takes me 7 minutes to walk from my house to a particular bus stop and the app says the next bus is 8:30 away, I go ahead and wait for the one after.
BostonBusMap is pretty
BostonBusMap is pretty accurate for the routes I use.
Yeah, Steward, of course the Bus's GPS prediction can't know 100% whether the bus is going to squeeze on through that last stop light or not and so it can be off a minute either way and there are small inherent delays in the system updates regardless.
But compared to spending the extra 20 minutes a day I waited for a bus before I had this tech, I'm not complaining.
shocked - shocked!
So a free service to which you provide no remuneration has some inaccuracies?
While I'm sure no one reads it, the Terms of Service read:
(a) GOOGLE AND ITS LICENSORS (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO TELE ATLAS AND ITS SUPPLIERS) MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES REGARDING THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF ANY CONTENT OR THE PRODUCTS.
http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/help/terms_maps.html
Didn't see any demand for a refund
Just a post pointing out that a much-ballyhooed service might not be living up to it's PR. Useful info for BosMetro citizens.
Point taken
I guess the broader point is, Don't trust anything on the internet, whether it's some blogger in "Syria," Google Maps, whatever.
if you think there's no remuneration...
...you don't understand why Google provides all these services or what remuneration means. Hint: it's not out of the goodness of their hearts, and remuneration doesn't mean "money." They're collecting data about all of us, and using it to sell ads, which is insanely profitable.
Regardless, it's service everyone has come to depend upon, whether it be tourists, new arrivals, or folks who don't know that particular area well.
*** Right Click --> Report ***
Right click and report, people. Then move along, move along...
Frankly, the locations are very close, and you'd have to be an idiot to take Google's locations literally. You need to go there and then look for the bus stop sign yourself. Google doesn't have someone sitting there checking the longitude and longitude of the bus stop signs.
Anyways: Take a look at Yawkey Station. Now that's pretty far off... I've reported that one before, I thought. Reporting again.
Right Click -> Report ?
One of Brett's screen shots showed the 'Report a problem' menu button grayed out. How did you work around that?
Right click -> report, not
Right click -> report, not menu -> report.
right clicking the stops
right clicking the stops doesn't appear to work in FF on my mac, but does work in both Chrome and Safari.
Not rocket science to find a bus stop
Can't today's privileged people figure out where a bus stop is without having to use the internet or hand held electronic device of some sort? It's not that hard, folks. I've done it for years. And, no, I'm not a luddite. Just practical.