GATE EIGHT

This gate talks about the online bus tracking system that Rutgers University depended on in the past.  I'll talk about the current system eventually... (it took me years to finally get around to talking about the old/former).
 

About the former "www.whereismybus.com" website.

Picture:  A look at the Where Is My Bus website, as it appeared (circa January 2006).

Rutgers University students were first able to go to the whereismybus website in ______________ (misplaced the exact date; looking for it).  They were able to track all of the routes at the time.  The site was updated at certain points, as the bus system changed.

Such updates included:
The University during Winter Break, Spring Break, and Summer.  The route options changed so that ONLY the routes in service during these time period were selectable.
The G and GG>>>>When they didn't return during the Fall of 2005, the route options/linkswere removed.  The REXB and REXL routes that were created later during the Fall of 2005 were NEVER visable on this site.

Whereismybus.com stopped working (properly) during Fall of 2005.  It is during this time the University was working on getting a new online tracking system/site in place (which would eventually be Nextbus).

Note that prior to Rutgers University passengers accessing this site, whereismybus.com was accessible for students in Canada.
 

Picture:  The Interfleet site.  Only certain individuals (like Bus Dispatchers and Management from both Rutgers and Academy) have access to this site.  This is what they use to track/check all of the buses at once.

The routes/buses were viewable on several different maps/screens.

From this site, it is possible to 'replay' events of a past day/time, in relation to certain bus/buses.  For example, if a driver was accused of skipping a stop on a route during Tuesday at 9 PM, then we can check the GPS records to see if a driver did or didn't do what was done.

The information on Interfleet must be correct in order for the information to show up on whereismybus.com.  In other words, if bus 1050 wasn't set to the F route on Interfleet (which Academy Express was solely responsible for), then it wouldn't show up at whereismybus.com.  Similarly, if there were server/computer problems at the Interfleet end, then whereismybus wouldn't work either (or if Academy had computer problems, no updated information could go in~through).  Like Nextbus today, if the buses weren't put on the correct route/job, then nobody's going to see it publically.  The Interfleet site is still being used by dispatchers/management even after Rutgers transitioned from whereismybus.com to nextbus.com (as it's all done by the same company:  Grey Island/Interfleet).

With whereismybus, passengers needed to know more about the bus schedules (they needed to have a better grasp of the actual schedule itself per se), and they had to do more guessing.  Take the Spring Break L bus schedule back in 2006.  There was only 1 bus; scheduled to run from 7:20 AM (the first bus leaves College Avenue) departing every 40 minutes (this meant the bus had 40 minutes to go from College Ave to Livingston, THEN to Busch, then back to College Avenue).  The last bus left College Ave at 5:20 PM, terminating at College Ave by 6:00 PM.  Passengers could see where the bus, but had to guess/figure out on their own WHEN the bus was coming to their particular spot... that was assuming there was NO traffic, and there wasn't anything (like road closures which would force the bus to go off route or skip a spot for instance) going on along the route.  Sometimes a bus would pass by the same area at around the same time everyday, but not always (due to different/ever changing factors).  Of course accessing whereismybus requires Internet access, and computers were slower back then.
 

Picture:  This was the WINTER BREAK L ROUTE DURING JANUARY 2006 (specifically 1/12/2006), as seen on the whereismybus site. Note that there was only one bus on the route, bus # 1054.  Passengers can see about how fast the bus was going (one of the factors you could use to determine when the bus might come to your stop/when to go out to the bus stop), and the EXACT bus # that was showing up.  The date/time stamp is when the bus was at/around that point in the route (in this case the Spring Break L was in the area of the Library of Science and Medicine at around 11:50 AM, probably just arriving to the bus stop-or leaving it given the 37 MPH reading.

Note that at the time, the bus was on Busch, heading to College Ave.  It was at/past/near the Library of Science Medicine stop.

Picture:  This is from the Interfleet site. Again, the general public does not have access to this site/information that this site does display.  Note that the driver's name was blacked out in this picture, but assuming the route/driver information was put in correctly, that information is obtainable through GPS playback as well..  Note that the NOVA buses were represented by a green bus shaped icon; and the last two digits of the bus # were shown for these buses #ed 1026 thru 1058 ((1575 and 1576 used the last 3 digits)).  Articulated buses (2001-2013; and later 2014-2026) had their own unique yellow bus shaped icon and weren't abbreviated.  The Ward Shuttle/mini buses (102 thru 105) also had their own unique (either green or blue bus shaped icon) icon and also weren't abbreviated.

Note that at the time, the bus was leaving the ARC (it was on Allison Road; note the South West heading), and was on route to the Hill Center.  "SBL" means "Spring Break L Route."