WMATA removes NextBus public test

Transit

WMATA removes NextBus public test

March 3, 2009 12:33 pm

by Joey Katzen and David Alpert

NextBus map of the 42 bus.

For a short time, bus riders in the Washington region could track their buses and find the next arrivals on key routes using online service NextBus. WMATA unceremoniously discontinued the service in the fall of 2007, stating that it wasn't accurate enough for use, and that they needed to update "legacy systems" to work with NextBus. Notwithstanding these public pronouncements, Joey and many others had been using it for some time via an unpublished Web address, and it's made our transit experiences considerably more comfortable.

Last week, DCist and New Columbia Heights reported on updates to the system, including real-time maps of bus locations, and told readers how to access the service. Right after a NextBus representative said they weren't shutting it off, it suddenly disappeared.

The NextBus system works with transponders installed on a transit company's fleet of buses. They relay each bus' location, via GPS, back to NextBus. This enables riders to find out, in real time, how long it will take for a bus to arrive, on the Web, by voice-automated phone, by text messaging, or by mobile browsing. The transit agency can also install digital marquees at bus stops, letting riders see the next arrival by simply looking up.

If this data is accurate, it almost eliminates the need for WMATA's inconvenient PDF bus schedules. Instead of waiting for seemingly-interminable periods with no guarantee a bus will arrive, riders leave their homes or desks just in time to catch the bus. A UK study showed that when riders received real-time information, they thought buses came more often and more reliably, even when the service hadn't actually changed at all.

After DCist and New Columbia Heights wrote about the service, a representative of NextBus had posted this comment on NCH:

Thanks for using NextBus! The WMATA site is not beta, it is still under construction. WMATA has just given us the green light to finish the project and release it to the public later this year. In the meantime, feel free to continue using it. ... No, we won't be shutting it down because you use it. We WANT you to use it, and feel free to send us feedback. We haven't created links to it from the main NextBus page yet because it is not ready for widespread public use. You mention it not being reliable, please send me an email and elaborate. Keep in mind, it is under construction. ... Feel free to send feedback to info@nextbus.com.

Nevertheless, a short while later, the NextBus interface for the Washington area disappeared. NextBus also asked New Columbia Heights to delete their representative's comment. Lisa Farbstein of WMATA said in a statement, "The NextBus test site was indeed that, an internal test site. It was not intended for the public to access it because it is not ready for public use. Once it is ready for the public to use it, we will relaunch it. The site and the technology continue to be worked on and when it is ready to be reintroduced, we will reintroduce it. We expect it to be ready this summer."

However, it was indeed good enough for the public to use. Prior to the shutdown, the mapping, mobile browser interface, and SMS alerts on the test site all worked like a charm, subject to the occasional accuracy fluke. In our experience, the information on upcoming bus arrivals was typically correct within a few minutes. However, sometimes, possibly as a result of a malfunctioning transponder, it would neglect to show a bus that was indeed arriving.

The differing reactions between NextBus and WMATA reflect deep cultural differences among the organizations. Good tech startups live by the mantra, "release early, release often." If you're building an online tool, the best course of action is to put it up early and then keep improving it. By doing so, you get a chance to see how real people use the site and hear feedback. This principle encompasses the second and third top recommendations startup investor Paul Graham gives to startups. That's why NextBus was eager for people to use it. It's not perfect; so what? As long as people realize it's still in development, there's no harm and a lot of good that can come from actual users trying it out.

WMATA, on the other hand, approaches problems from the opposite direction. They don't release any information until it's thoroughly vetted. They took NextBus offline in 2007 because it wasn't accurate enough, even though many users found it plenty accurate. One of their reasons for not working with Google Transit was the possibility of inaccuracies. At Metro, it's better not to provide any information than to risk giving any wrong information.

Obviously, we need a balance. It's good to strive for maximum accuracy. If an official service gives riders wrong information, it hurts the rider experience. Of course, that still happens. The official trip planner doesn't account for temporary reroutes, like those around the Hay-Adams Hotel when Barack Obama stayed there before the inauguration. And if a service is unofficial, as the NextBus test was, and the site makes that clear, what's the harm?

You can actually still access the NextBus service here. (Select District of Columbia for the state even to see Maryland and Virginia bus routes). It includes many Metrobus routes and the real-time maps. Now that you know, will WMATA ask NextBus to block this as well? We hope not. And for the Metro staff who might read this: please don't ask NextBus to take this down. NextBus could add a very prominent "BETA" or "TEST SITE" to the page, with a clear disclaimer telling people that any information here is not guaranteed to be accurate, and that riders use it at their own risk. That should deflect any risk to Metro's reputation. Why not let riders benefit in the meantime?

New Columbia Heights set up a petition for riders to urge WMATA to launch NextBus as soon as possible.

Update: The NextBus site is gone again. Did WMATA officials force NextBus to take it down? We'll try to find out.

33 comments

Tags: buses, real-time bus, technology, WMATA

Catoe: NextBus beta "doesn't make sense for Metro" (Mar 6, 2009)
RAC tonight: service cuts, NextBus (Mar 4, 2009)
Zimmerman urges Metro to embrace "beta testing" (Mar 26, 2009)
Where's My Bus?: NextBus for Circulator (Jun 26, 2009)
Nextbus IP, Metro data quality dissuades one developer (Aug 13, 2009)

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There might be some contract issues that prevents WMATA from using the Beta/Test phase. It all comes down to what the contract considers "acceptance" by WMATA and if they do use Beta/Test it might trigger additional cost to WMATA. Whatever the case, BETA/TEST should have been a provision in the contract if it does not.

by RJ on Mar 3, 2009 12:46 pm • link • report

There certainly may be contractual issues here, but the cultural difference is an excellent point. This is something that WMATA has an unfortunate pattern of doing - deciding what's best for users in a top-down fashion.

by Alex B. on Mar 3, 2009 12:57 pm • link • report

I used nextbus with the Fairfax CUE every day for years. Even when it wasn't functioning perfectly (which was probably 20% of the time) it was still better than nothing. It is SO convenient.

ArCo's cheaper push-button system they have at some bus stops is also good, though not *as* good.

by BeyondDC on Mar 3, 2009 1:02 pm • link • report

Where buses are concerned, inaccurate information that represents itself as more reliable than the printed schedule is a big problem. If Nextbus tells you the next bus isn't coming for 45 minutes and you walk away to do something else, only to have another bus show up 5 minutes later, you're screwed. Better to hang around, knowing the bus is late (you were there; it wasn't), than to be duped into thinking you know what's happening and miss the next bus, finding yourself stuck with an even longer wait.

Happened to me a few times (before I stopped relying on the readouts) and I watched it happen to plenty of other people as well. Do it right or not at all.

by z on Mar 3, 2009 1:20 pm • link • report

I agree that the information should be somewhat reliable. When I was a student at Georgia Tech, I was a frequent user of the NextBus site for the Tech shuttle system. It was accurate almost all of the time.

So I hope the bugs are worked out. However, I would love to have use even of the Beta site. I live off of 14th Street in Petworth and commute to Silver Spring. I have a couple of options for getting to work.

I can walk 12 minutes to the Petworth Metro and take two trains to work.

I can take the 14th Street Line (52, 53, 54) to Columbia Heights Metro and take two trains to work.

I can wait on the opposite side of the street and take a northbound 52 or 54 to Takoma Station and take one train to work.

Currently, I walk during rush hours (because of traffic), and I'll wait for the bus during other periods. The wait times are only 7-8 minutes most of the day, and there's a printed PDF schedule at my stop.

But if I knew a Takoma bus was coming, I'd wait on the other side of the street. Only every third bus or so goes all the way to Takoma and there's no printed schedule on that side of the street, so I never wait for that bus. However, if I could check NextBus before I left my house, and saw that a Takoma bus was approaching, I would take it more often.

Even if some arrivals weren't shown, I would still win most of the time. The only problem I would have is if it showed a bus that wasn't actually there. That would be inconvenient.

by Matt' on Mar 3, 2009 1:41 pm • link • report

Dude, their super-secret test site is test.nextbus.com?!? That's not even trying to hide it; that's just the single most obvious URL that they could have possibly chosen. I feel dumb for not knowing about this sooner.

by tom veil on Mar 3, 2009 1:54 pm • link • report

thank you, thank you, thank you for linking to the nextbus site. lifesaver for the off-days when i have to catch the S2 from downtown for a meeting up by silver spring.

by AJ on Mar 3, 2009 2:06 pm • link • report

God I hope this doesn't send WMATA into another round of hide-and-seek. I too believe that contractual issues may have caused them to deep-six the public NextBus when it became widely known in recent days. It would be just like WMATA's lawyers to have failed to insist upon a beta-test clause. (Don't get me started on their Verizon wireless contract from the 1990s.)

If you are curious about what might be going on behind the scenes with "fixing" NextBus -- or rather, the Metrobus systems that interface with it -- I include the following information I dug up.

In presentations made to the WMATA board in March-April 2007, the staff explained how the NextBus interacts with back-office programs run by MetroBus.

See http://wmata.com/about_metro/board_of_directors/board_docs/030807_NextBuspresentation.pdf and http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/board_of_directors/board_docs/041207_MinutesMarch82007PDRE.pdf

According to these documents, "NextBus accepts an electronic raw location feed from WMATA’s existing Orbital OrbCAD Automatic Vehicle Location System and combines it with a data feed from the Trapeze Scheduling System." (Note that these reports claimed NextBus worked flawlessly at the time).

It appears the big problems started when they looked at expanding the service. (Allegedly, Metrobus will be the largest-ever roll-out for NextBus.) Back in September 2007, the Post reported "The main problem is outdated software that cannot communicate properly with newer software, [Metro chief Catoe] said. Metro plans to disconnect the system, make the upgrades and reconnect the system, he said."

Since that time, the WMATA website has pretty much gone dark on NextBus. I have found documents listing urgent, unfunded IT capital needs, which ask for a million bucks to "Remediate/Stabilize Major Operational Systems" because "Trapeze, Maximo, Orbcad not configured nor reengineered for many basic functions."

(By the way, according to the maker, Trapeze has a free plug-in to export schedule and location data to Google Transit, if the operator is using the latest versions of the software with current licenses. Wonder if WMATA just needs to pony up for software upgrades?)

At the June 26, 2008 WMATA board meeting, the IT remediation were fully funded for FY2009. (The same day as the DC OneCard was approved.) Deep in the attachments for the budget, it noted that the contracts to "enhance" Trapeze and OrbCAD were to be awarded no later than 12/31/08.

After that, the trail goes cold in my searches on the WMATA website -- other than lots of references to passengers desperate for NextBus to be restored. (The Riders' Advisory Council strongly requested restoration in July 2008.) For what it's worth, it looks like NextBus annunciators were written in the requirements of the Clear Channel deal on bus shelters, so WMATA at least APPEARS to have the institutional commitment to pursue getting NextBus fixed.

P.S. Fixing the OrbCAD and Trapeze should have benefits besides making NextBus work better. WMATA has been working on a project called Bus System Integration and the "Single Sign-On" feature. (See http://www.wmata.com/about_metro/board_of_directors/board_docs/062608_CSOS3OpsPerformance.pdf) Supposedly BSI will allow MetroBus to better monitor on-time performance (and other issues, like maintenance) in the back office.

by John on Mar 3, 2009 2:13 pm • link • report

I'd been using the Nextbus site for a few weeks before they took it down. It worked great on the 50 buses on 14th Street and the D2 to Glover Park. I bookmarked a few of my usual bus stops on my cell phone and can pull up the times very easily. I replaced wmata with test in the URL of my bookmarks at they all work again.

by inlogan on Mar 3, 2009 2:13 pm • link • report

well, we're really pressing wmata on this now, aren't we?

i kind of wish you had spoken directly to wmata and figured out if there was some kind of contractual language that would make them pull things if this second site became public. that way, we wouldn't be speculating about whether that is the case.

i guess we'll find out soon enough if the test site comes down as well...

by IMGoph on Mar 3, 2009 2:39 pm • link • report

That was one of the questions I asked Lisa Farbstein. She did not answer it. Here were my questions:

Did WMATA ask NextBus to remove the publicly accessible test? Or did NextBus do that of its own accord?
Did WMATA ask NCH to remove the comment from NextBus, or ask NextBus to make that request of NCH? Or did NextBus do this?
If WMATA instigated either of the above, what was the reason?
Is there a new location to access the test data online?
If there is a new location, does WMATA have any objection to people knowing about and using it before it is officially released?

She only replied with the statement I quoted in the article. If there were a contractual reason, she could have answered that to the third question.

I will follow up and ask specifically. Also, I just found out that NextBus may be a topic of discussion at tomorrow's RAC meeting (whose agenda I just got minutes ago). If so, I will ask about this then as well.

by David Alpert on Mar 3, 2009 2:46 pm • link • report

I can understand the clash of cultures--software that crashes every day is a minor inconvenience; buses that crash every day are a big problem.

I don't know how much this was DDOT's doing, instead of WMATA's, but it seems like both the Circulator and the Metro Extra #79 bus were done with the release-early-and-fix-later mindset, so somewhere there are innovators at work.

by thm on Mar 3, 2009 2:46 pm • link • report

@imGoph: Well, David did check with WMATA, and their spokeswoman's response is in the body of the posting. It didn't occur to us to ask about contractual issues, because there was never any suggestion that was the case. All this speculation about there being some issue in the contract began with RJ's comment above. I'd be highly doubtful whether a test site being used (on a public testing basis) would somehow be held against WMATA financially (given the NextBus rep's posting).

by Joey on Mar 3, 2009 2:46 pm • link • report

david and joey: ok, thanks for the clarification. true, contractual issues aren't something that would have necessarily been thought about before it was brought up here. looks like you've done what you can to cover all the bases with the wmata folk. it'll be interesting to see how this all plays out.

by IMGoph on Mar 3, 2009 2:50 pm • link • report

The conflict of cultures is pretty obvious to those of us from Silicon Valley. We shouldn't be surprised when bureaucracies act in bureaucratic ways, we should just try to figure out what we can do about it.

by David desJardins on Mar 3, 2009 4:40 pm • link • report

Can we assume this'll come up at tomorrow's RAC meeting? This seems like exactly the sort of thing that should be covered there.

by Distantantennas on Mar 3, 2009 5:32 pm • link • report

It DID send them into another round of hide and seek!!

I had it for a few minutes, great while it lasted, now it is GONE. Rather, they are asking for a p/w.

MAN!!!

by Jazzy on Mar 3, 2009 5:46 pm • link • report

Shame.

It seemed to be working too. My office window looks out onto route of the Q2. Whenever I noted one was coming on NextBus, sure enough here came an actual Q2.

David, please voice our consternation at the next RAC meeting. I'd rather have something than nothing.

Maybe they'll take volunteers for beta testing.

by Matt' on Mar 3, 2009 5:50 pm • link • report

ah, shame. it worked for me this afternoon (about an hour ago).

i do believe that it's time that mr. graham and the board give us, the riders and consumers of the product, a solid answer why wmata has problems with us being able to use nextbus.

by IMGoph on Mar 3, 2009 5:53 pm • link • report

Metro's General Manager is holding an online chat this Friday at noon. I suggest that ALL of you submit questions about NextBus. If they get a bunch of questions, I doubt they'll ignore the issue. It will also show the very top of the management structure that this data is important to us.

You can submit questions in advance. I already did.

To submit a question, go to: http://www.wmata.com/community_outreach/lunchtalk_online_chats/transcript.cfm?chatID=184

by Matt' on Mar 3, 2009 6:11 pm • link • report

I just submitted this letter to Chris Zimmerman. I imagine while this is a first shot in the battle, many more arrows will be released in the next week between David's RAC meeting, the online chat, and other opportunities to inquire and protest.

----------

Dear Mr. Zimmerman,

I am a Contributing Blogger at GreaterGreaterWashington and an Arlington resident. I chose to live in the County for the sense of community and the convenience inherent in a locality that has spent decades on the forefront of civic planning. What makes this planning process so great here is that politicians, staff, and community members come together to jointly discuss and direct for the future.

Today, however, I'm writing you in your capacity, largely, as a WMATA Board Member, and less as one of my Supervisors.

Several years ago WMATA initiated a venture with NextBus to provide real-time arrival information to bus riders, something most helpful given the severe inability of WMATA buses to run on schedule, especially (and ironically, given the dearth of traffic) on weekends. Though there were some flukes in the NextBus system and public links to the service were taken down, I and many others have been using it for some time.

And it worked like a charm.

Sure, there were times where it would mistakenly omit a bus that was coming (I assume the GPS transponder on the bus was malfunctioning), but the information was largely accurate enough, and it totally changed how I travelled. I went from using the bus once or twice a month to using it several times a week. Most of my usage is in off-peak times where my boarding merely helps pay for significantly subsidized rides. Before NextBus, I just couldn't rely on the schedule to not have to stand in the freezing cold for 45 minutes. With NextBus, I could walk outside two minutes before it arrived, and catch the bus virtually every time.

When this information was discussed on several internet blogs in the past several weeks, WMATA apparently demanded that NextBus disable any public access to the system. This was even after a representative from NextBus posted on one of the sites, encouraging the public to use it as a test to give them feedback!

Clearly, NextBus is interested in providing this service as a work-in-progress, and many of us who have passed along the access information through word-of-mouth have greatly benefited from it.

After WMATA took it down, your spokeswoman Ms. Farbstein refused to answer nearly all questions about the details of why it was taken down, stating only that "[i]t was not intended for the public to access it because it is not ready for public use."

Unlike Arlington County, WMATA appears to be strangled by bureaucracy and a "top-down" paternalistic approach that implies WMATA staff wants absolute control and believe they know what's best for its riders, even when its riders universally disagree.

Why is WMATA concerned about allowing a "beta" or "work-in-progress" NextBus to continue as it has for many, many months? If WMATA makes it clear that it's such a work-in-progress, it allows riders to use it, test it, and offer feedback. Riders like me gain a considerable value from it, and because it would be labeled as a "work-in-progress," WMATA wouldn't suffer any damage to its brand or image for the occasional inaccuracy. From my point of view, the schedule is accurate considerably less often than NextBus was.

In recent months it has been revealed that WMATA has board members and executive staff that rarely use the system (and even more rarely the buses), has prevented Google Transit from incorporating transit information into its maps in order to protect web site traffic at wmata.com, and now disabled a much-loved rider tool, for no other reason than a bureaucrat believes it isn't ready for public testing (against the opinions of many riders and the company that provides the service!).

I expect that I will return to driving much more often until NextBus is released again, and that's unfortunate not only for me (as I like not having to have my car with me at all times) but for a cash-strapped system that could use additional riders to help pay for under-capacity buses.

For more information on the course of events, please see the joint blog post between David Alpert and me at the following URL: http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post.cgi?id=1739

I, as a Metro rider and Arlington resident, urge you to please direct WMATA staff to restore access to the work-in-progress NextBus, and to encourage staff to consult with riders, as opposed to directing from above them, when making these types of decisions.

Sincerely,

Joey Katzen

by Joey on Mar 3, 2009 6:30 pm • link • report

Obviously some WMATA employee are reading this, so truly from the bottom of my heart:

Fuck you.

Fuck you long. And fuck you hard.

Eat shit and die.

Alone.

You are worthless.

You have no idea what it's like to be a bus-rider. To stand on a corner on a night like tonight when it's 10 fucking degrees out and have no idea when the bus will come. On a night like tonight when you don't know whether you should step into CVS to warm up or whether you should stay put and bear it a few more minutes. On a night like tonight where your fucking pdf bus schedules aren't worth shit.

Fuck you.

Not "in 18 months". Not "sometime next year". Not "maybe this summer". Right now.

Fuck you, immediately.

(David, sorry for the language, and I understand if you have to remove my comment, but sometimes it's necessary to let people know how utterly unacceptable their actions are.)

by Reid on Mar 3, 2009 9:01 pm • link • report

Explicit language is sometimes necessary to convey explicit concepts. Please avoid censorship in cases where the post is cogent, clear, non-incendiary, and informative. Like this one.

by Squalish on Mar 3, 2009 9:25 pm • link • report

Why would metro give up on something that work. METRO NEEDS A MAJOR OVERHAUL AND FEDERAL INVESTIGATIONS.

Now you cant get into the site anymore without a username

by michael on Mar 3, 2009 9:28 pm • link • report

It costs Metro money -- staff time distracted from duties, putting schedules at risk -- to keep answering or deflecting questions about the unfinished service. PR doesn't know the answers, and goes to ask someone else, who has to spend time crafting emails to defend the experiment instead of actually getting the job done, and the emails reverberate up and down the chain for approval because it's hard to make clear, durable statements (anything they say could wind up on the internet!) about unfinished services...

by Turnip on Mar 4, 2009 4:56 am • link • report

Turnip are you saying that we should leave them alone?

Can't they walk and chew gum at the same time?

by Jazzy on Mar 4, 2009 7:27 am • link • report

I just came across this article and the comments. I must say to you folks in DC, you are very lucky that WMATA is at least willing to get NextBus working for you. Here in Phoenix we have the entire bus fleet with GPS equipment and the same Orbital system. Our bus bosses, howver, have decided that bus riders can wait for the bus and do not need services like NextBus. Meanwhile a small town in northern Arizona, Flagstaff, has full NextBus services. Incompetency seems rampant among bus agency management and employees all over!

by Joe Citizen Phoenix on Mar 4, 2009 7:24 pm • link • report

I'm afraid that if we call them bureaucrats (which they are!), WMATA will only interpret this as name-calling and not understand what we mean. This article, that analyzes the cultural differences between the WMATA and NextBus, does a great service to articulate what we mean when we say bureaucrat. Great job.

After all, nobody wants to *be* a bureaucrat, so if they were aware that they are one, then they would change. They clearly aren't aware of this characteristic of themselves. We should just say what we mean by it, we run a better chance of being listened to.

by Dave on Mar 4, 2009 9:02 pm • link • report

Of course, Phoenix is known to be swarming with terrorists who just want to do Americans harm, unlike bucolic Washington DC, so it's not surprising that they need to keep their bus locations under wraps.

by David desJardins on Mar 4, 2009 11:59 pm • link • report

Dave, a fat Jamaican man from the future begs to differ.

by Squalish on Mar 5, 2009 12:17 am • link • report

test.nextbus.com is prompting for a username and password now. :(

by Chris S on Mar 5, 2009 7:08 am • link • report

Yes, I also just tried to use the test.nextbus.com site and it is prompting me for a username and password. Does anyone know a way around this?

by GadgetSolo on Mar 5, 2009 7:47 pm • link • report

From http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/20/AR2009062000970_pf.html -- "Members of the Metro-appointed Riders' Advisory Council have been testing the NextBus system since May."

Been holding out on us, Dave?

by John Mitchell on Jun 21, 2009 8:09 am • link • report