A Web Application for Passengers to Watch Coming Buses in Rural Areas

Abstract

We present a web application for passengers to watch their bus come on the display of their smart phones. It is intended to serve the passengers of local community bus services in rural areas where people have been suffering from sparse and unpredictable arrivals of buses due to infrequent and delayed operations. First the user picks up a bus trip. Then the current position of the bus is superimposed over the Google Maps along with the route and stops of the trip. The passenger can deploy a virtual sentry on the route. When the bus comes close to the sentry, the web application alerts to the user that the bus is arriving soon and the user should get prepared to catch the bus. Until then, the passengers can spend their time on working, having coffee, or taking a nap without fear of missing the bus. We have just started an experimental service to the community bus service in a nearby city in attempt to make the bus service more convenient and popular. At an extremum, we may reach a situation that people do not have to care about the fixed time tables but only the alert notifying that our bus is approaching, just like the urban people do.