DOTS implements tracking system

A new DOTS bus-tracker loses the previous system of pushing a button at a bus stop to see when your ride will arrive, but adds text-messaging and online alternatives, transportation officials said.

The Department of Transportation Services worked over the summer to install all the components of a new NextBus system, which went live the first day of the semester. NextBus — the same system used by many large cities, including Washington and Baltimore — uses GPS technology along with computer software to track bus arrival times.

DOTS Director David Allen said the department switched tracking systems because the future of its old provider, ShuttleTrac, was uncertain.

DOTS chose NextBus because it is a popular system and it offers several services the old tracking system did not, Allen said. It's also cheaper and offered free equipment installation.

NextBus allows riders to view arrival times on www.nextbus.com, by calling (301) 314-2255 or through a text message to 41411 of "nbus umd [bus stop number]."

The website also streams a live map of the entire bus fleet, allowing DOTS administrators to address concerns from riders about buses missing stops or driving incorrect routes.

"We really like it," Allen said, adding that the installation period over the summer did not reveal any major issues, and so far this semester the transition has gone smoothly.

While the old system used push-button devices to display arrival information at individual stops, NextBus uses a digital display board. DOTS so far has just three display boards, two at Stamp Student Union and one at Regents Drive Parking Garage.

Allen said the department plans to purchase 16 additional smaller display boards for individual stops, but "it's not clear at this point" exactly when they would appear except that they're at least "several months" off.

So for now, at most stops students must rely on the Internet or cell phones to track bus arrival times, something that not all students understand.

Junior aerospace engineering and studio art major Frange Abaraka said he didn't like the new display boards and didn't understand why DOTS had taken away the push-button devices.

Abaraka also said his experience with the NextBus had been frustrating, saying he waited for the Shuttle-UM bus to Seven Springs Apartments for an hour when the sign said it would arrive in 10 minutes.

"Maybe later on it'll get better," he said.

Sophomore finance major Mendel Zecher, who was waiting for the bus to the College Park Metro station Sunday, disagreed.

"I'm awed by the sign," he said.

Zecher said the new sign was more impressive-looking than the old push-button devices. He said he has more confidence in the sign, which displayed a zero minute arrival time as his bus pulled into the stop.

Junior marketing major Avi Weinstein said at first he didn't quite understand the display board, which lists a route number and then two other seemingly random numbers beside it that are actually the next two bus arrival times. But Weinstein said once he figured out how to read it, he liked the new system.

Weinstein, like Zecher and Abaraka, was unaware he could track bus arrival times at other stops with text messages and was relying solely on the display boards.

"It's nice that they have these here," Weinstein said of the display boards at Stamp. "But there are tons of other spots."

mccarty at umdbk dot com