Paris got real-time bus tracking in 1996. In the United States, NextBus launched in Emeryville in 1999. In the Central Valley, tiny Visalia adopted the technology
in 2011.
And now in 2018, finally, Fresno’s bus system has real-time bus tracking!
This is incredibly important because it makes riding the bus predictable. No more standing in the heat wondering if your bus is late…or if it came early and you missed it!
As far as I can tell, they haven’t advertised this feature. No press release, nothing on the website. I didn’t even notice it myself, but it was pointed out to me by Joe in the comments. Thanks Joe!
The new Q line, set to open on February 19, 2018, was advertised as having the tech, and fortunately, it appears that the entire system has been outfitted with it.
Right now, the primary way to see the data is on Google Maps. You can check it out on both desktop and mobile. Let’s take a look!
Zoom in to a bus stop and click the bus icon. Then click on any of the buses listed.
It will then open up the bus lines that serve that stop, along with the times for the next buses.
Times in green are live! Times in black are from the schedule.
Compare with these other bus services that stop downtown. They’re all in black, so not live times.
When you set it as part of your route, you will be informed of any delays. As an aside, 51 minutes in bus vs 15 in car. Hm, I wonder why bus ridership is down…
On the phone the screens look a little different, but it’s the same concept to see all the bus times. Find the bus stop, click it, and then this opens up.
You can then click the bus line you want and actually see where the bus currently is. This screen shows the scheduled time and the actual time.
As an aside, note that many other transit agencies are available to help you plan your transit trips. However, not all have their real-time info coordinated with Google. For example, you can find real-time status of Amtrak trains on the Amtrak website (including a map showing current speed), but the times on Google are just the scheduled ones.
Boltbus (and Greyhound) are available too, but the same issue – you have to go to their websites to see if they’re on time or not.
Additionally, the Fresno website mentions a dedicated transit app. Well sadly, the app mentioned on the website is complete garbage. If there were smartphone apps in 1996, they’d probably look like this:
This is insulting.
HOWEVER, upon browsing the store, it appears that a second app was developed, which recently launched! The one with the higher rating is the newer one.
Super confusing, right?
Supposedly, this new app has modern features, including the real-time tracking info.
Unfortunately, it greats you with this:
No thanks.Why do I need to create an account to view the bus schedule? Ridiculous.
The Google Play store does have a screen shot showing that the app supposedly looks like this:
So more like 2010 instead of 1996.
Just stick with Google Maps.
