This is a demo project and we make no claims of warranties of an kind, express or implied, as to its operation. See our full disclaimer.
Overview
Every stop within CDTA has a unique public identifier that is located on the sign at the bus stop it was thought that it would be straight-forward for a rider to find the identifier and send a simple text message while standing at the stop to find when thier bus would arrive. For riders with web enabled devices a simple page optimized for mobile phones was created to the same thing.
This proof of concept is a very simple web mashup using a free SMS text service called Text Marks (www.textmarks.com) and the GIRO web services used by the CDTA Trip Planner. The concept was pretty simple using the Text Marks service receive a SMS text message from a customer which included the public stop identifier, then call the GIRO web services and find the next three scheduled arrivals times for that stop. Then send a reply text message back, via Text Marks, with the Current Time, Name of Bus Stop and the difference between the current time and arrival times. As an exception case if the bus stop could not be found then an appropriate message would be returned to the user.
At this point we still have the textmarks account active so these examples and the associated web pages will still work. While we think this could be a very useful tool for riders, to be truly useful a person would want the next real-time arrivals of the bus at the stop.
Example Usage
Sending a CDTA Next Scheduled Bus SMS Request
- Send a SMS text message on your mobile phone to: 41411
- Send the message: iRideCDTA 09013
Successful Example
Request:
iridecdta 09013
Response:
(DEMO) CDTA NEXT SCHEDULED BUS
Stop: WATERVLIET AVE & ESSEX ST
Time: 2:15 PM
Route 2: 27 Mins
Route 2: 62 Mins
Route 2: 79 Mins
Bus Stop Not Found
Request:
iridecdta 12345
Response:
(DEMO) CDTA NEXT SCHEDULED BUS
Time: 3:27 PM
Could Not Locate Schedule for Stop: 12345
Accessing the web page used by text marks
This shows how to programatically access the same page as text marks
- Open up web browser go to http://app.cdta.org/sms/nextbus.aspx
- Default bus stop will be Sand Creek Rd and Fredrick Ave (10543)
- Change Address to http://app.cdta.org/sms/nextbus.aspx?stop=09013
- You should receive similar results as text message example above.
Accessing the mobile version of the page
- Open up the web browser on your phone or desktop
- Go to http://app.cdta.org/sms/mobilenextbus.aspx
- Type in the Bus Stop id
- Click Submit Button
Last Updated: 10/14/2014