NextBus: best thing Muni has ever done
I first used the city's Muni system way back in 1961, and the installation of NextBus (http://www.nextbus.com/)--- the GPS-based system that tells us when the next bus is coming---is the most important Muni innovation ever, especially now when service is being cut. Now we can look at NextBus and decide whether to wait, walk, or take a cab. It removes a lot of free-floating doubt and potential anger for those of us who regularly use Muni. And here in District 5 we really need it on the #5 inbound bus stop at McAllister and Central, a stop that's handicapped by two turns in the route, where the bus jogs over from Fulton to McAllister.
Labels: Muni
posted by Rob Anderson @ 11:55 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
This is something that everyone can agree on. NextBus is awesome (has been for 3 years...)
When you say we really need it at McAllister and Central... are you just saying "Thank God it exists"?
Stop info for #5 inbound at Central/McAllister
Or are you wanting an on-street nextbus display in the shelter there (I assume on the SE corner of the intersection) - I have no idea if there is one there currently. If MUNI can get the $$$ every shelter should have a sign. Maybe we can pay for them with money from extended meter hours :)
Lacking a sign, if you are a yuppie, download Routesey for the iPhone and have nextmuni info on-the-go with a very slick UI no matter where you are.
There is one downfall to nextmuni. If you are boarding at the start of a route, there is no GPS indication of when the bus is going to pick you up - at the Caltrain station I frequently stand outside a 47 bus that is there, but the driver is inside Walgreens. No GPS system is going to tell me how long the driver has left on his break. So nextmuni simply indicates the next *scheduled* departure, which MUNI veterans all know is only a mythical beast.
Another downside to NextBus: it can't be installed where there's no bus shelter.
Yes, there's no NextBus in the inbound shelter at McAllister and Central, even though there are two corners between that shelter and the previous stop at Masonic and Fulton.
Two corners - my instinct says that's key because then you can't even look down the road to see if a bus is coming? Annoying.
I feel like making a public comment at a MTA meeting asking for a NextBus sign at that shelter just for the sake of bipartisanship!
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