Building a Real Time Bus Tracking Data Display System
Jason Dudley, Ron Vetter, Jeff Brown, Tom Janicki · Annals of the Master of Science in Computer Science and Information Systems at UNC Wilmington · 2011
Mass transit competes with automobiles to move passengers. However, until recently, mass transit has not utilized technology to keep their potential passengers informed of estimated time of arrival (ETA) of buses or even mechanical breakdowns of buses on the passenger’s route. A local public transit authority desired to increase its level of technology and communication with passengers as it built a new transfer station between its routes. They felt this increased level of communication would have a positive effect on the perception of their service by potential riders. This research discusses the design and implementation of a system to provide real time tracking of buses for a public transit authority. Key requirements were the development and display of ETA for all buses via mobile, web, LCD and LED displays. The research builds on the work of other transit authorities and Google. Once implemented a study found that the ETA algorithm developed by the researchers was superior to the estimates provided by Google for identical routes. Results of the study are included.