We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
DUBLIN BUS PASSENGERS will soon be able to check the live position of their bus via text and a smartphone app.
Public transport minister Alan Kelly today announced that the current trial of real-time bus timetables in Dublin is to be extended to Cork, with the Dublin scheme extended to include over 300 of those signs.
To supplement the fleet in Dublin, a live text service is to launch in autumn allowing users to receive a live update of how far away their bus is. A smartphone app with the live positions of the bus fleet will launch soon afterward.
“With the new developments being rolled out in the coming months, gone will be the days of staring into the distance wondering when the bus is going to come,” Kelly said.
We will have in the region of 500 real-time bus signs displayed between Dublin and Cork by year’s end. We will be commencing testing in Cork shortly, which will lead to a rollout after that.
The trial of the real-time bus information signs is also to be extended to Galway, Waterford and Limerick next year.
The smartphone apps for Dublin will feed from a public Application Programming Interface (API), which will also allow creative web programmers to concoct clever tools like this one from London.
When the whole nationwide system is complete, it is envisaged that anyone anywhere in the country will be able to use a single text number to find the proximity of buses near them.
“The idea is that you can text your bus stop number to a single number, and you will then receive a text telling you how long the bus will be,” Kelly explained.
The scheme will build on Bus Éireann’s existing When’s My Bus website, which tracks the live positions of almost all the vehicles in its fleet nationwide over the web and via SMS.
More information on the plans can be found at the Transport for Ireland website.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Thanks Anthony, did not know that exists.
There is already an app on the Android market that does this called Dublin Bus GPS. It’s pretty good I find.
Excellent news!
Live bus app? I’m still waiting for the f’in actual bus.
The notion of anything else being built on the basis of Bus Eireann’s When’s My Bus site is terrifying.
That’s very nice but will the frequency be improved? Because I think that people has the feeling that waiting times will be lower but no, this will only let us know how many minutes or hours we’ll have to wait for.
Frequency won’t improve (sadly!), but knowing when a bus is coming will allow us to manage our time better surely? Therefore you wouldn’t have to wait very long if you know exactly when your bus is going to arrive. About time this is being implemented along with integrated ticketing.
There are quite a few apps out there from developers already (Shameless plug: http://market.android.com/details?id=com.nextbus.dublin). The real story here is that there is still no documented API for developers to access this data :-/
Unless the new app has real time gps tracking of the buses with a map to boot, I think I’ll just keep using Dublin bus live as I have done for the last few months.
And Cork does not even have a map fullstop of the bus service. Pathetic.
Yes, it’s progress, but there is no progress on getting the services of private bus companies onto the system. So the Minister is incorrect in saying “gone will be the days of staring into the distance wondering when the bus is going to come”. For thousands of commuters those days are still with us.
Gerry Mullins, Chief Executive, Coach Tourism & Transport Council.
If ya wanna know how long your bus is gonna be I suggest you bring a measuring tape with ya.
Will the API will have data from all the bus-service operators, not just the state-owned one? (Sigh, I think I know the answer, but had to ask!)
Looking forward to seeing this rolled out to Galway, would be good to have bus shelters to go with the signs though :-)
have your say