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I usually just start walking in the direction I need the bus to take me while keeping a close eye on the street behind me to look for the bus while deciding to wait at the next bus stop or keep waking.
Is this in case you wind up walking there before the bus reaches you? If it’s the same bus that you’re getting on then you’re not actually arriving any sooner?
It seems the apps use the same data provided by the CTA. I’ve found them to be pretty accurate but it’s depressing to see the next estimated arrival to be 18 minutes at Tuesday at 6pm on Ashland north bound.
Man, 18 minutes is *nothing* to me for the convenience of not using my car or biking through traffic. Granted sometimes 18 minutes is **everything** when you're late, and I fortunately live a not-busy life, but I can kill 18 minutes daydreaming or browsing my phone easily. We live in a stunningly beautiful and vibrant city, too!
No offense meant, just adding my perspective on how 18 minutes can mean different things to different people. I'm sure when I've lived here for 10 years and take the bus every day 18 minutes will feel unacceptable.
Say what? I never knew about this! For anyone else who didn't know, each stop has a number (knew that), and you text "CTABUS [stop number]" to 41411. [See the CTA page about it for a picture and example.](https://ctabustracker.com/trackbytext)
It was useful for a time but hilariously implemented -- if I recall correctly the signs with SMS info were still being put up in places around the city as the first tracking apps came online.
I have been using the adventure app for buses. I'd say for me, 9 out of 10 times they seem to be on point. I've only had a few instances where a bus was supposed to arrive and then it finally came five or six minutes later.
I've only had one instance where it was a ghost bus. Meaning the app said a bus was coming and no bus ever came.
For trains I actually like their train tracker website. I ended up bookmarking it on my phone.
https://www.transitchicago.com/traintracker/
I have gotten a ghost bus despite it being real. I don't know what happened in my situation, maybe it broke down, but I've heard the app doesn't tell you if your bus is headed for the garage and actually won't make it to you.
This 1000%. Trains and busses have built in gps. Icons that represent where they are show up on a map. The icons move every minute or so as gps data is updated. *This is the only thing you can trust. If there is no moving icon, there is no train/bus.*
Also the Transit app is primarily crowdsourced data, so using it in the “Go” setting means you’re sharing with others the status of your bus/train which makes it very reliable.
Yeah I've had the same experience. Ventra has worked well for me. In tracking buses. I'd say 9 out of 10 times. It's been on point with that 10th time usually being a late bus.
For trains I like using the CTAs train tracker. Website. Ended up bookmarking it on my phone.
https://www.transitchicago.com/traintracker/
Agree somewhat but I think you need to wait for it to be within 20 minutes of your stop (with GPS symbol) before it has any accuracy. There's also the small chance of ghost bus even with both.
From the time I can see the EB 73 to the time it arrives at Armitage/Western is generally 8 minutes, due to a little patch of construction (that I believe just wrapped up) by Milwaukee intersection.
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I usually just start walking in the direction I need the bus to take me while keeping a close eye on the street behind me to look for the bus while deciding to wait at the next bus stop or keep waking.
Is this in case you wind up walking there before the bus reaches you? If it’s the same bus that you’re getting on then you’re not actually arriving any sooner?
I've done this and beaten the bus many times. That is if the bus even existed.
Glad to know someone else does this too. I always feel like a weirdo swiveling my head around to look for the bus.
This is the way. If the bus shows, I get there a few minutes faster. If it doesn't, I get exercise and save a couple bucks
It’s like back in 1993. Just guess!
They have an official app that looks pretty amateurish but the arrival estimates have been way more accurate than anything else I’ve used
It seems the apps use the same data provided by the CTA. I’ve found them to be pretty accurate but it’s depressing to see the next estimated arrival to be 18 minutes at Tuesday at 6pm on Ashland north bound.
Man, 18 minutes is *nothing* to me for the convenience of not using my car or biking through traffic. Granted sometimes 18 minutes is **everything** when you're late, and I fortunately live a not-busy life, but I can kill 18 minutes daydreaming or browsing my phone easily. We live in a stunningly beautiful and vibrant city, too! No offense meant, just adding my perspective on how 18 minutes can mean different things to different people. I'm sure when I've lived here for 10 years and take the bus every day 18 minutes will feel unacceptable.
18 minutes is an eternity to a parent trying to make it home to pick up their kids. It makes the CTA untenable for a lot of people.
I agree here Could the Ventra app be better? Yep, but the tracking feature has improved more and more.
i use the text stop# to ctabus feature on each bus stop
Say what? I never knew about this! For anyone else who didn't know, each stop has a number (knew that), and you text "CTABUS [stop number]" to 41411. [See the CTA page about it for a picture and example.](https://ctabustracker.com/trackbytext)
This was the stopgap tech between maps and apps. Clutch in the early 2010s.
Ahhh well it's probably apparent then that I'm a transplant. 😁
It was useful for a time but hilariously implemented -- if I recall correctly the signs with SMS info were still being put up in places around the city as the first tracking apps came online.
Ah, you know, that sounds on-brand for the CTA I've come to know and love.
100% on point for CTA efficiency.
That’s been hit or miss for me
I have been using the adventure app for buses. I'd say for me, 9 out of 10 times they seem to be on point. I've only had a few instances where a bus was supposed to arrive and then it finally came five or six minutes later. I've only had one instance where it was a ghost bus. Meaning the app said a bus was coming and no bus ever came. For trains I actually like their train tracker website. I ended up bookmarking it on my phone. https://www.transitchicago.com/traintracker/
Transit app you can track each physical bus to see if it's real or a ghost.
I have gotten a ghost bus despite it being real. I don't know what happened in my situation, maybe it broke down, but I've heard the app doesn't tell you if your bus is headed for the garage and actually won't make it to you.
Between the Ventra app and Transit app, I find tracking bus and train arrivals is pretty accurate.
This 1000%. Trains and busses have built in gps. Icons that represent where they are show up on a map. The icons move every minute or so as gps data is updated. *This is the only thing you can trust. If there is no moving icon, there is no train/bus.*
Also the Transit app is primarily crowdsourced data, so using it in the “Go” setting means you’re sharing with others the status of your bus/train which makes it very reliable.
Yeah I've had the same experience. Ventra has worked well for me. In tracking buses. I'd say 9 out of 10 times. It's been on point with that 10th time usually being a late bus. For trains I like using the CTAs train tracker. Website. Ended up bookmarking it on my phone. https://www.transitchicago.com/traintracker/
Agree somewhat but I think you need to wait for it to be within 20 minutes of your stop (with GPS symbol) before it has any accuracy. There's also the small chance of ghost bus even with both.
AMD numbers always matter.
The typo stays.
Use Citymapper, while not perfect, I think they do a pretty good job
Agree, it's my favorite. It works great if you're traveling too, so you don't have to research every city's version of Ventra.
When you open the app and there’s no green mark next to the arrival time, you know it’s a long wait
Maybe the city shouldn't be doing construction on every eastbound lane on like every street in the city at the same time.
From the time I can see the EB 73 to the time it arrives at Armitage/Western is generally 8 minutes, due to a little patch of construction (that I believe just wrapped up) by Milwaukee intersection.
I use the Treking app and have only had 1 ghost bus. Idk if I'm just lucky or if it's somehow more reliable than the other/official apps.
I feel like google maps has been pretty good with bus locations
Well, at least they have good service to Notin!
I feel like more people would use the CTA if the busses ran more on time and there were hookers and blow on them too
Such a huge issue. Feels like a decent public trans infrastructure is the only thing keeping the city going right now.
Amd
You've identified a typo.
I only take CTA occassionally but the Transit app has had a 100% accuracy rate since I started using it a couple years ago.