Testers will try out a new feature which actually predicts when your bus will arrive!

It’s that time again to invite Buzzer Blog readers to help us shape what the mobile site will look like in the near future. The first Real-Time Next BusInformation beta testing happened before the launch of m.translink.ca in the fall. Since then, we’ve updated the Next Bus map so you can click on any bus stop # and get schedule and bus information that corresponds to it, search by route # and location, as well as search by the path your bus takes and save your favourite bus route and stops. The old Trip Planner map was also replaced with a Google map update as well as email and print options added.

Chosen testers will be given Fare Saver tickets to cover the cost of getting to and from Metrotower II as well as a gift certificate for a meal.

A mobile map of the #9 showing the route after path (in-orange) saved using the new favorites function

Every few weeks or so, the mobile team rolls out refinements to the Next Bus service found within our mobile site, m.translink.ca. This month, I’m very excited to see three new additions that I think will greatly improve helping customers find the right bus for their needs. First up: favourites are now live!

Favorites added to Next Bus

Trip Planner has it, and there was the ability to bookmark favourite routes on the old mobile site. Now Next Bus has favourites built into it! Besides having GPS on the buses and seeing them on the map, for me, being able to save your favourite bus route or stop using Next Bus is one of the most useful aspects of the new mobile site.

Once you search a route or bus stop, simply click the “FAVS” button, and you’ll have them saved for whenever you need them again! I’m told you can keep up to 100 favourites stored (if you save over that number the your 101 favourite will replace your first etc.). I haven’t saved that many yet, nor do I think I ever will.

Within the favourites pages, you’ll also see “Search History”. The “Search History” will keep your route searches regardless of if you save them or not. This way, if you forget to save a search for a route or stop or decide you would have liked to save it, it’s already there.

You can also edit what you name favourite routes and stops. For example, if you look up  #9 going a particular direction, favourites will automatically name that route “Route 009 – WB1A Map View.” If this is your route to school, you can rename the route “School” or anything you want (within 256 characters). This also works for text view.

Functionality improvements

Also new is a “Favs” button alongside a “Home”, “Search”, “Refresh” and “Text View” button at the top of the map for quicker and better usability. Previously, you had to go back to the Home page of Next Bus to search.

Now when you go to m.translink.ca and click on “Favourites” you’ll see all your Next Bus and Trip Planner trips, bus routes, bus stops and search history in one spot!

Search the specific path your bus takes

Select the bus you're interested in and it and it's corresponding path turns orange

Now this is really cool. Before today, if you searched for a particular bus route (by entering the route #22, finding it via a bus stop ID# or simply clicking on it on the Next Bus map) like the #22, the map would show where all the #22 buses were currently and the “usual” path they take. Now, if you click on a particular bus you’d like to catch, that bus’ specific path, along with all the other buses on that same path, will be highlighted in orange. The path that each bus takes within a route are the exact streets, avenues, roads and highways buses take to get from a to b. This is important because previously only one “usual” path was shown on the map. That meant that sometimes a bus would take a different path than was shown on the map. For example, the #22 has numerous paths and even different destinations. Now, once you click on the bus you’re interested in, it shows the exact path it takes! Notice in the screen shot that the #22 chosen goes along Prior Street, not Terminal Avenue, on it’s path to downtown Vancouver.

The bus stop as well as pattern and bus icon change to orange instead of blue now

This new path functionality will help all of us better plan our trips – just last week one of my colleagues got on a 130 that short-turned at Hastings. She won’t do that again after today! Or at least I hope she won’t.

If you zoom into your map, you’ll notice that each bus stop that your bus stops at is also coloured orange instead of blue like other stops on the bus route.

Working out bugs and looking to Android next!

Now that paths are live, the team will be monitoring users comments about it. The mobile site is still in beta, so this is the time to let us know if you find any bugs or have any comments about this new and existing mobile functionality.

Moving forward, the mobile team will be working on making the mobile site function better for people using smart phones powered by Android. The mobile site is officially supported by iOS and iPhones 3G, 3GS, 4 and 4S. Android users are one of our fastest growing group of users when it comes to utilizing this mobile site, so it’s important the site works well on these phones. After updates for Android users are completed, the mobile team will focus on other operating systems.

GPS-enabled search on Next Bus

Today, the team behind TransLink’s mobile site has a holiday present for site users — more updates, including GPS-enabled map search, route links available in the Next Bus bubble, and route text view!

GPS-enabled search

I know I personally have been waiting with bated breath for GPS-enabled search on Next Bus, which I think will be especially handy when you’re somewhere where you don’t know the exact 5-digit number of nearby stops or what buses run in the area. Now when you access the site with your GPS-enabled smartphone, you no longer need to put in either a stop or route number to search on the map. All you need to do is go to the Next Bus “Where’s My Bus?” page, and then click on “Map View.” Assuming your phone and browser have location services activated, a pin showing your location will drop on the map, and all the nearby stops will pop into view (as pictured above). You can click on the bus stops as usual to see what buses ply that route, and when they are scheduled to stop there.

If you don’t have GPS activated, or you are using the desktop version of next bus, you can still leave the search box on the “Where’s My Bus?” page blank. The pin will drop in Surrey, and you can navigate around the map from there to find the appropriate stop.

Route links in the Next Bus bubble

You can now click on route numbers in the Next Bus bubble.

Once you know what stop you want to use, you might want to know which buses stop there and where they go. You can now click on the bus numbers in the Next Bus “bubble” to see the route and real-time bus locations of buses on that route. For example, at the busy stop pictured here at right (#50095), you can now click on any of the six bus route numbers to see that route and the buses on it. Clicking on the #22 bus, for example, shows the route in orange (you can of course pan out to see a bigger view of the whole route), and the fact that I have just missed the bus!

Just a reminder that the orange line shows the “usual” pattern of that route, so on routes with multiple patterns, you may see several orange lines. A blog post from a few weeks ago contains more details about why this is.

Route text view

Finally, you now have the option of text view for all the stops on your route. On the Next Bus “Where’s My Bus?” page, you type in your route number and then click “Text View.” You’ll see all the stops for that route listed in order. Clicking on any of the stop names will bring you to text view (and scheduled times) for that particular stop. And you can switch to map view from there to see the real-time location of all buses in relation to that stop. Pretty nifty!

As always, we like to hear your thoughts on the new features as we add them. Leave a comment or question and I’ll try my best to find the right answer for you!

Trip Planner now uses Google Maps!

It was only last week that I wrote about the latest updates to Next Bus. This week’s exciting announcement is about a very significant update to the desktop version of Trip Planner. For years, people have been telling us how much they like using Google Maps. Trip planner has had its own map, but it pales in comparison to Google Maps’ functionality, usability and familiarity with uses. Well, I’m tickled to say that today is the official launch date of Google Maps on Trip Planner!

Google Maps

Like before, simply input your starting point and destination into Trip Planner, chose your preferred journey option by clicking “View Details”, then click on the map view. You’ll be brought to a Google map of your trip with your chosen route indicated by a coloured line. The map is easy to zoom in and out of, move around in any direction, and shows landmarks and other features that Google is regularly rolling out. If your trip has multiple legs, each leg is colour coded for ease of use and you can also chose to see the map in satellite and terrain views. The list of benefits of using Google maps goes on and on to be honest.

Email and print your trip!

You can now email and print your trip

Have you ever wanted to keep a copy of a trip you’ve previously planned through Trip Planner? Now you can! Both an “Email” and “Print” button have been added to the service. Once you’ve found the trip you want to save, simply email and/or print it, and you’ve saved it for next time! This is a great feature if you want to help family and friends find a location as well.

Please note that these new features are not yet available on the mobile version of Trip Planner. TransLink is aiming for these features to be added to the mobile version in 2012.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on these new features. Leave a comment, question or what have you, and I’ll do my best to find an answer to help you with whatever you need. If I can’t, I’ll be more than happy to find someone at TransLink who can. Good trip planning to you!

This just in... you can now see the route of the bus you want to take!

The mobile team has been quietly working on new functionality for our Next Bus service. As many of you know, after the new mobile site (m.translink.ca) was launched in September, the Next Bus (nb.translink.ca) page was updated so that if you use the map function and you click on any bus stop, you’ll get the corresponding routes that service that stop and their schedules.

Today you’ll find new updates when you use Next Bus. Before I get into them, it’s important to remember that the mobile site, including Next Bus, is still in beta mode. This means that there are still updates to functionality yet to come. The reason that Next Bus is being released in beta instead of waiting until it is completely finished is so customers can start benefiting from it now and provide feedback on how to make it better, so as usual, I’ll be forwarding your comments to the mobile team.

OK, let’s get to the new functionality:

Searching by route #

You can now search by route # on the Next Bus “Where’s My Bus?” page.

Now you can search by stop and route #

If you don’t know a route #, you can leave the field blank and be brought to the map page. The text “Sorry, we could not recognize your search. Please zoom in to the map to find your stop or click “New Search” to return to the Search page.” will show up in a box when you get to the map. Once you close this box you can search the map for bus stops and routes with ease!

As before, by clicking on a bus stop “T” logo, a schedule pop up box appears, and you can choose from the routes which service this stop. The big change is that once you search by route, an orange line appears on top of the map indicating the “usual” pattern of that route. I say “usual” because some routes have multiple patterns (one route has over thirty, I’m told) and can change patterns during different times of the day (rush hour, special school buses, etc.). The bus’ “usual” route is the route set up as the default route in our database (usually the route’s most common pattern). At the moment, the route can only be selected from the “Where’s My Bus?” page. Clicking on a bus’ icon will bring up a dialogue box showing the bus’ destination.

In the future: Clicking on a bus’ icon will bring up a dialogue box showing the exact route that the bus is on instead of the “usual” route. You will also be able to click on the route # within the box and the corresponding orange route line(s) will remain visible.

Please note, at present, if you search by route # using the map function then click any other functionality, the orange route line(s) will disappear.

In the future: If you click on a bus stop that a route services, the orange route line will not disappear.

If you choose text view to search, you’ll still need to know your bus stop # or route #. However, what’s new now is that once you choose a route #, a list of all the route’s stops and locations will be listed and hyperlinked to the schedule showing what time the bus will be at each bus stop. At the moment, each stop along a route is listed in numerical order not geographic order.

In the future: Each stop along a route will be listed in geographic order.

If you’re using a smart phone (iPhone and iPad are officially supported), you’ll noticed that the mobile team is experimenting with using your phone’s GPS location capabilities. This is a functionality that will officially be rolled out soon.

What’s next

Improving how users can search by route and locations will be the main priority moving forward. Once this is done, searching for buses by locations, mobile GPS and favourites will be given the majority of attention. After that, the mobile team will focus on making all of the components of the new mobile site compatible on non-Apple devices.

The updatd Next Bus map show bus stops as "T"s and allows you to search any bus stop by clicking onto it.

You might have already noticed a recent change with nb.translink.ca. If not, you can either go there directly or go to m.translink.ca, and click on “Next Bus”. Once you’ve chosen the bus stop #, you’ll notice the real-time map looks a little different. Now all bus stops have a “T” icon, so you can find them easily on the map. But this isn’t the big change. You can now not only see the schedule and the real-time locations of the buses that service the  stop # you searched for, you can click on any stop in Metro Vancouver and see the schedule and buses associated with it by simply moving around the map. Perhaps you see a bus stop that’s closer than the one you searched for. Now you can easily click on it and see if there is a route that you like and see where the buses that service that route are in real-time!

Think of it as a tweak of the Next Bus service that was released in September. Previously, you had to enter the bus stop # each time you wanted to find a bus near you. That meant having to return to the search page and possibly having to look up the bus stop # every time. Now you just need to enter a stop # once, and you can move around the real-time map and click on as many stops as you like.

Coming Next:

• The mobile team is working on being able to go directly to the real-time map without having to enter a bus stop # first. This way, you won’t need to find a bus # in order to use the map, which should save some time.
• As mentioned in my previous mobile post, future phases will include being able to search by route(s), search by user’s location and real-time bus arrival times.
• Once these phases have been rolled out, the mobile team will be working hard on making all of m.translink.ca accessible across numerous smart phone platforms including Android, Windows and Blackberry OS.

As always, your comments about the service are welcome. I’ve been forwarding each and every one of them to the mobile team and will continue to find answers to the questions and comments you post.

m.translink.ca main page

After a lot of planning, work and some testing (thanks again, Buzzer readers), the newly upgraded mobile website is finally here!

The new Next Bus

If you logged onto m.translink.ca recently, you would notice that the page looks different. Not only has the page been redesigned, there are two new services provided: Next Bus and Favorites. Oh, and there is also a twitter feed at the bottom of the main page. When you click onto the new Next Bus feature, you’re taken to the “Where’s My Bus?” page. From here, you can either enter the bus stop number (if you know it), or you click on the “Find My Stop” button on the right. If you enter a stop number, your next choice is to have your search displayed as a map or as text (having it displayed as text is great if your cell phone isn’t a smart phone).

Finding you stop step 1

If you don’t know your stop number, then the “Find My Stop” button takes you to a page that allows you the intersection or popular location for your location. This page accesses the same functionality that is used when using Trip Planner. Once you’ve chosen your desired stop, you can chose either a map or text display of your search.

The Real-Time map

Oh, the map. I love looking at it. Anyway, once you’re at the map view, you’ll see a red pin showing the bus stop you searched for and the buses (illustrated by a blue and white icon) that service that particular stop. The route number is displayed in the bus icon’s window. The arrows indicate the direction of the route that bus is on. Above the red pin is a bubble showing the details for the stop number that the user searched for including the stop location and number, the bus route numbers and their schedules for that stop.

Map view of Next Bus

“Real Time” means you’ll see the actual location of the bus. For this release of the beta, you’ll be able to cross-reference the scheduled time of the bus with bus’ actual location. Each bus is equiped with a GPS that updates its location every two minutes. Because each bus is running on its own clock, not all buses will update at the same time. In order to update the location of the bus on the map you’ll need to manually “Refresh” the map by using the “Refresh” button at the top of the screen or your browser’s “Refresh” button.

Favourites

Click on the "Add To Favorites" button to save your route

This first release of the mobile site saves your favorite route by using the Trip Planning function. Once you’ve chosen the trip option you prefer, you can click on the “Add To Favourites” button. Currently, you’ll be able to store up to four favourite routes.

What your Favorites screen may look like after you have used the Trip Planner function a few times

You’ll also notice that the favourites function also stores the last four searches you’ve performed using Trip Planner (both to and from your desired destination).

Trip Planner, Schedules, Fairs, Rider Info, Buzzer Blog, Alerts and Contact Us

All these functions on the mobile site are the same as on the TransLink website or similar to what we had on the old mobile “App” site (with the exception of the “Save To Favorites” button in Trip Planner). You’ll notice that much of the text has been chopped down to the essential information in order to fit on most mobile devices. As mentioned previously, the release of the new mobile site is in beta version.

The mobile team is still working out some bugs and plans on rolling out updates and new features in the months to come including being able to search by route and multiple bus routes according to your location as well as adding real time arrival times to the schedules. The plan is to start with basic functionality and build upon that foundation. Please also remember that this first release of the mobile site works best with iPhones (3G, 3GS, 4). The mobile team is working on making the site work better with other smart phones and operating systems  . As usual, I’ll be forwarding comments to the mobile team, so go out on the system and try it out!

Buzzer blog mobile testers: Graham, Josh, Eric, Ronald and Walter

This morning, five Buzzer readers were among the first non-TransLink members of the public to test out the new mobile site. Choosing only five of the 37 people who applied to be testers was not easy. I appreciate all the enthusiastic applications many of you sent in!

A tester trying out the new site.

All but one tester brought an iPhone4 (we also had a Palm Pre in the mix) to try out the new TransLink mobile website. This was a good thing since this first phase of the new mobile site works best on iPhones (4 and 3Gs) and iPads. I’ve heard that the site also works fine with some Android phones and newer touchscreen BlackBerry phones. As the mobile team has told me, they want to get the three releases of the new mobile site up and working (Release 1 – searching by stop #, Release 2 – searching by route, Release 3 – searching by location) before they work on perfecting the compatibility of the mobile site with other phones and operating systems.

The testers sat down with a member of our mobile site team and were given access to the new site on their phones. Having over an hour to see how it worked, they peppered myself and our team member with questions about this and future releases of the site.

On the whole, the testers seemed to like the new site and found it easy to use. “Much better than the existing site,” was one comment I heard.

I wish I could tell you more about what was discussed, but that would spoil the surprise for when it goes live next Tuesday, September 6th!

Phones used to test the mobile site

A sneak peak of the new Next-Bus Real-Time service

I hinted in the Comments section of the last new mobile site post that I might have some interesting news soon. Well, here goes.

Since the blog has been such a great place for constructive comments and discussion about our future mobile site, why not get readers to provide feedback on the product itself?

The team that has been working so hard on the new mobile site would like to invite five Buzzer Blog readers to beta test the first release of the Real-Time Next-Bus portion of the mobile site.

The testing will happen on Monday, August 29th! If you have your Monday morning free (roughly between 10 a.m and 12 p.m), then you may want to think about applying to be a tester. We’ll provide transit tickets for your trip to and from your home and snacks!

How to apply to be a tester

Please send an email to the thebuzzer@translink.ca with the subject line, “I Wanna Be a Tester!” In the email, please provide your name, phone number and in 200 words or fewer why you should be chosen to be a tester. The chosen five testers will be picked by myself and members of the mobile site team based on your submission and comments made on the mobile site to date.

Those chosen will be given access to the beta of the Next Bus portion of the new mobile site and be asked to provide feedback on its functionality, design and ease-of-use. Specifics on the day will be provided when you’re contacted. Please submit your email no later than 9 p.m. on Monday, August 22.

Phase 1 of the Next Bus portion of the new mobile site is set to go live in early September. It will coincide with the introduction of the new mobile website to help customers get better transit information while they are out and about in Metro Vancouver. The feedback from the five Buzzer readers will help us with future phases of Real-Time Next-Bus and our new mobile website.

We’re really looking for constructive feedback that can help TransLink refine the product that is still in its evolutionary stages. The aim is to continually refine the mobile product and provide our users with a system that is easy to use and provides accurate information for people on the go.

The five people chosen will be notified no later than Wednesday, August 24. Thanks in advance for offering your time and feedback. Your contribution will help us make transit more accessible and relevant to more people. So, get those emails into my mailbox and have your say on how the Real-Time Next-Bus service and mobile website can be improved!

Keeping in the spirit of simplicity and making sure the public is informed of TransLink activities, the TransLink Events Calendar was created. The idea is to put all TransLink-related events like meetings, promotions, schedule changes, transit training, public consultation and community outreach in one place. Not a bad idea, huh!

Moving forward, there will be more events added to the calendar including I Love Transit Night, which will be added to the calendar this week! This is something new for TransLink, so I’ll be passing on your feedback on the content, layout or anything else about this calendar you think could make it better!

Look here for important TransLink events!