urbanSTL

Yeah, you can click through and see the advisories, but it will still give you invalid routes.

The east riverfront station is closed. The blue line is not running tomorrow evening. But if you get directions, it'll still give you directions that aren't possible.

Shouldn't an app be more functional than a paper schedule? I don't think other transit planning apps spit out invalid routes.

Especially annoying with all the fun runs that reroute buses for seven hours for a 5k. Just the other day I got directions on the app and walked to a bus stop only to see the sign posted that the stop wouldn't be served due to a run (even though the streets had reopened).

The service alert icon shows up for just about every route. So you have to get a list of options then try to work backwards and figure out which are possible.

It's the same thing on Google Maps, and likely any other Transit direction app. Transit is the preferred app of Metro.

Whoever is to blame, real-time transit schedules work in other metro areas. How is it that they work there but not here?

I obviously have no inside info, but it would seem that there'd be some data feed from agencies to Google/Transit, etc., and that the one from Metro is greatly inhibited.

Metro provides schedule information. but they have no responsibility for providing updated schedule information?

• Caltrain in the Bay Area is electrifying tracks. There is no train service on weekends. If I try to get Google Maps directions, it gives me a bus, not a nonexistent train.
• Bart apparently has a bus bridge next weekend (https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2023/news20230228). If I go to Google Maps and put in next weekend departure between those two stations, it gives me bus bridge schedule, not a train.
• The Berwyn Red Line station in Chicago is closed. Google doesn't tell me to take a train there.

eee123 wrote: ↑

May 08, 2023

It's the same thing on Google Maps, and likely any other Transit direction app. Transit is the preferred app of Metro.

Whoever is to blame, real-time transit schedules work in other metro areas. How is it that they work there but not here?

I obviously have no inside info, but it would seem that there'd be some data feed from agencies to Google/Transit, etc., and that the one from Metro is greatly inhibited.

Metro provides schedule information. but they have no responsibility for providing updated schedule information?

• Caltrain in the Bay Area is electrifying tracks. There is no train service on weekends. If I try to get Google Maps directions, it gives me a bus, not a nonexistent train.
• Bart apparently has a bus bridge next weekend (https://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2023/news20230228). If I go to Google Maps and put in next weekend departure between those two stations, it gives me bus bridge schedule, not a train.
• The Berwyn Red Line station in Chicago is closed. Google doesn't tell me to take a train there.

This is a great discussion and I have same issues regarding alerts and last time single tracking announcements. As part of class project, I am interested in developing an android app to address these issues.

Can someone please highlight some of the pain points and your preferred solution for those issues? I want to see if I can include them in the app! Any help is appreciated!

The bus reroutes for me are probably more painful than the MetroLink changes. At least I usually notice or think to check in advance about train reroutes.

IDK what the solution is, but it probably starts with clearer information from Metro as to exactly when they are rerouting.

The 10 bus is the one I ride most frequently. It has 2 permanent service alerts, neither of which I really know when are happening. Buses seem to usually run down 14th during Enterprise Center events, but apparently not always. It shouldn't be that hard to figure out when there's a full closure of 14th Street.

They have a similar alert for CityPark. Luckily games there are less frequent, but if you were catching a bus 20 minutes after the game, is it on a reroute, or not? I don't think there's a way to know. According to the letter of the reroute "for the duration of all Events at City Park" it shouldn't be on a reroute, but right after the game would be when the reroute is most needed. 

eee123 wrote: ↑

May 08, 2023

It's the same thing on Google Maps, and likely any other Transit direction app. Transit is the preferred app of Metro.

Whoever is to blame, real-time transit schedules work in other metro areas. How is it that they work there but not here?

This is the key. The app just puts the 'skin' on the live data feeds from the transit agencies, everything from schedules to deviations to live tracking. The app isn't to blame here.