CTA Bus Tracker

When bus tracker came out I thought it was the cat’s meow, the bees knees, yada yada yada. Now, the bloom is off the rose and the rose-​colored glasses are off.
Lately, when I pull up a the site, I hear this going through my head:
«Tell me lies
Tell me sweet, little lies
(Tell me lies, tell me, tell me lies)
Oh, no, no you can’t disguise
(You can’t disguise, no you can’t disguise)
Tell me lies
Tell me sweet little lies»
I also tend to hear phrases like this coming out of my mouth:
*What the f#ck!
*Damn it, damn it, damn it
*Are you kidding me?!
*Sh!t, sh! t, sh! t
See bus tracker seems to have the misconception that it can control time. When it tells me that my bus will be there in 5 minutes for 10 minutes straight OR when it says my bus is delayed and then 2 seconds later is 2 minutes out, I get really ticked off. When it happens to be any combination of cold, wet, snow, or windy at that time, I get pissed off. When it seems to no longer be the exception or fluke, forcing me to either wait at the stop in the cold for an undertermined amount of time or sprint for the bus hoping nothing gets in my way, I become a raving bitch.
Get your act together!

How hard is it to sync this &%$@#@& thing with the bus?
DUE apparently means «just playing»
2 MINS apparently means «umm, I mean 15»
15 MINS apparently means «ha, ha sucker i’m right down the street, bet you can’t catch me»

Simple to use as long as you know what direction you’re going.
Only occasionally has been off on times, but I think that’s more to do with the slowness of people getting on. Such as from the Shedd to the Field Museum. It will say 3 min but actually take 20 — but that’s because 50 people just got on at the Shedd.
I love this thing. The one thing CTA did right. Give yourselves a pat on the back!

Simply put: one of the best things that happened to Chicago since I moved here.
We’ll see how long this lasts… something *consistently* good from the CTA?!

Love it.
Hopefully the future upgrades won’t include a countdown to the next Doomsday transit collapse.

FEAR NOT FAIR CITIZENS. NO LONGER WILL YOU HAVE TO WAIT IN THE COLD, IMPATIENTLY WONDERING WHEN, DEAR GOD, WHEN WILL THAT BUS ARRIVE? THANKS TO THE CTA BUS TRACKER, NOW YOU KNOW _​PRECISELY_​HOW LONG YOU HAVE TO WAIT.
Oh thank goodness for the CTA Bus Tracker, especially with this frosty winter we’ve had. To be honest, I never really used it too much, until they added both the #36 and the #22, bus routes I use pretty frequently. It’s usually accurate, and handy to boot. This also stops me from doing what I used to do, ALL THE TIME, which was get impatient waiting for a bus, decide that it would be less boring and/​or warmer to start walking toward the next closest bus stop, only to be midway between the two stops when the bus goes flying past. Now I can waylay this urge by, instead, impatiently hitting refresh on the Bus Tracker.
Yes, I probably need help.
One obnoxious thing, though, is that the stops are listed alphabetically, rather than spatially. I would much prefer the latter, but I can see that the alphabetic organization is probably preferable for people who don’t really know where they are at a given moment, or where they are relative to other places, or the endpoints of a particular bus line.
Now make a train tracker, PLZ.

I fell in love with the CTA all over again when it launched its Bus Tracker. While the #50 was added at inception, I recently learned that the #70 (as well as the majority of Northside East-​West routes) will be available on March 2. In the age of instant gratification, the garage-​by-​garage implementation has taught me patience, but the delayed launch of East-​West routes was long overdue. This delay compels me to rate this service 3 stars but for the benefits I list below.
The CTA Bus Tracker is very accessible through my BlackBerry and the times have always been reliable. My fiancée jokes that her next phone will be web-​enabled solely for the CTA Bus Tracker. I couldn’t agree with her more.

Bus Tracker failed me today. It said that the next westbound 152 was due in 5 mins so I waited inside the brown line station, only to see a 152 bus quickly stop, let someone off, and speed away before I could get out the doors. Oh well, I thought. At least there’s a bus coming in 5 mins. I waited for a couple minutes until Bus Tracker said it was due to arrive (less than 2 min), went out and looked down Addison, but there was no bus in sight. I waited five minutes more, and Bus Tracker still said that the next bus was «due». Looked down Addison once more, and still no bus in sight. I decided to walk home, and by the time I got to my street no 152 bus had passed.
I still give it 3 stars since it’s much better than trying to guess when the next bus will arrive, or timing it based on the minutes it says on the blue CTA stop signs. And for the most part, it’s decently accurate.
I would rather spend my money helping make this system better than paying the red light tickets the drivers get.

The CTA Bus tracker is a mighty convenient thing. It’s pretty accurate, and convenient for both hot and cold days. The only thing I can really complain about is that the listing isn’t complete. Would it kill you guys to list the 76 bus?
Anyway, it’s pretty sweet, and works well on my BlackBerry. Could be better, but it’s nice to have.

Today is better than my birthday. They’ve finally added the #36 and #22 routes to the CTA bus tracker! Cherries on top!

CTA does a nice job of granting this luxury to a very self-​selected group of people. If you don’t have internet access at home or on your phone, you’re SOL. But if you do, the CTA would like to remind you that they would rather spend money making you aware of how erratic and hit-​or-​miss their bus service is, instead of putting that money into replacing old buses, fixing el stations, or cleaning their already run-​down vehicles/​train cars/​stations.
What I like about this service is that you can pick two options: either an estimated arrival time, or a real-​time map of where your bus is. If you like the estimated arrival times, be ready for sudden 5 minute jumps in estimations. This is why I stick to the map because I would rather see for myself where my late bus is then allow CTA another opportunity for me to be mad at them for being wrong about their estimations.
Now if they could only have a Bus tracker that could tell you which operators are nice and which hate their jobs and take it out on the riders, I’d be set.

Patrick wins on this one.
Even though they can barely afford to operate and I find things like this a luxury, it is indeed a nice luxury to have.
It’s particularly nice in the winter months… you can wait inside and check when the bus will be there, then 2 minutes before you can show up and reliably know the bus will actually be there… no more standing in the cold!
My only issue – which will be fixed in time I presume – is that not all buses are tracked… So if there are 3 bus lines that stop at your stop outside, it might say the next one is in 7 minutes, when in reality there’s one that’s 2 minutes away it’s just a line that doesn’t get tracked. (I can’t understand why a bus as popular as say… the #36 Broadway isn’t tracked??)

Amazing to think we’ve evolved so far from the days of having to look for faint green bus displays in the distance (not to mention the near retirement of those same non-​Bus Tracker buses), and now have mostly-​correct GPS tracking in place on an increasing number of routes. And that #22, #49B, and #36 are about to be added.
Won’t quite give it 5, since once in a while it can be inaccurate and slightly slip off schedule. And nearly forgot to mention I wish a higher percentage of bus routes were on the tracker. But, you gotta love technology for no longer making catching the #50 Damen from my house a guessing game. :)

When they first launched the bus tracker — it was fake fake fake. All they did was copy the printed schedules and tried to make you believe the buses followed them.
BUT THEN! They honestly installed GPS tracking on the buses and now, voila! this thing works like magic, and it’s ACCURATE!!! How do I know??? I use it all the time for the 62 and 62H routes and sometimes for a few of the downtown lines. I watch that the bus number on the tracker matches the bus that is coming — which used to not happen. I’ve even seen the times increase when the bus was running late on the route…
The layout of the website and the mobile site (I use my Blackberry) is simple to navigate and easy to read and updates quickly.
Finally the CTA has done something right — can’t wait ’til they have a train tracker! It can’t be far off, can it???

This is one of the greatest things the CTA could have done. No one likes the bus. And even more so, no one likes standing on a street corner waiting for a bus. And more than that, no one likes chasing toward a bus in the hopes that you’ll make it before it pulls away. So, thank you CTA Bus Tracker for making the bus just a little more pleasant.
Bring on CTA Train Tracker. Like, now. Please.

In theory, this should be the save all to all of your CTA bus questions. However, it’s not always accurate. For example, I was waiting for the 151 and it said it should arrive in 17 minutes. I looked up and it was right in front of me. So, the error was in my favor and I’m not going to complain. For the most part it’s close enough to help you with a few hit and misses on the time frame.
It’s definately worth having to help you out. I’m sure that it will improve with time and all bus lines will be added.

When I log into the CTA bus tracker from my CrackBerry and see that the temperature is –5, it makes me really happy that I can also see that the bus is indeed on its way. It makes waiting in the cold bearable when I know I won’t be standing in it for half an hour waiting for the bus that will never come.
Thanks, CTA.
*more stars to be awarded if/​when they ever add the 22 and the 36. I hear rumors, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

I love this new-​ish feature! I live on the #8 Halsted bus and I can look outside at the bus stop.
Just this Sunday, was checking on my bus using this feature so I could figure out if I would make it in time for a binge drinking Sunday morning up in Lakeview — when I checked the bus, it said «approaching» (my stop) and literally, the bus was pulling up outside my window.
Same thing returning home drunk after two pitchers of mimosas topped off with two screwdrivers… found the bus using this feature and hung out at the stop for 3 seconds before the bus came up to me.

I give it 5 stars also. Very good. I also like how you can use google to search for something in the city and CTA Bus Tracker is embedded with google.
Great. You can map things and also check the bus or train schedule.

Make these your bookmarks:
CTA Bus Tracker
RTA Trip Planner (
)
and maybe Google Maps
Listen, I only hang out within a three mile radius from home, but if I ever have to go to Lincoln Park for some unfortunate reason, I rely on Bus Tracker & Trip Planner to find the least painful route. True, not every bus is available to be tracked, but mine are. whoo!
*TOURISTS!* Use these sites together, and stop holding up my buses with all your questions to the bus driver about if this bus will take you to Navy Pier or Water Tower or American Girl Place or this hotel or that hotel! Use Trip Planner first to figure out what bus (or train) to take, then use Bus Tracker to figure out what time it’ll arrive. Lastly, have your $ 2.25 out or figure out which end of your bus card gets inserted down when you hop on the bus to pay, and alas, you’ll be one savvy tourist.
Next step for Chicago is to have the tracking systems inside bus shelters and subway stations, like other cities do.