It's definitely harder to consistently communicate the status of a fundamentally inconsistent service...remember that "real time" transit trackers are a PATCH to compensate for the train (or bus) never reliably keeping on schedulehttps://twitter.com/Dustin_Hinkley/status/1034432153839443968 …
even if it only comes 5 times a day--if you know it'll come exactly when it says it will come, what's the problem?
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I picked a random station on a rural line and checked the timetables in a given direction: http://ekikara.jp/newdata/ekijikoku/0101101/down1_01455021.htm … I don't need to check any sort of tracker to see the train's progress--I know it'll be at this station in this direction at exactly the times listed here!
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I mean if it's only 5 times a day they can easily just have it posted at the stop But if it's not posted, it's nice to be able to tell at an instant how long of a wait itll be, especially if the schedule isn't as simple as "every 15 minutes on the 5s" or something.
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Personally I find it easier just to text the bus stop number or something than to have to memorize the next few times and check the time against those scheduled times In theory that could be done with just the schedule in a tracker-style system I guess
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buses are harder to keep on their schedules, so I can see a case for trackers there, but I must insist: if you have great schedule adherence, it's easiest to just glance at a schedule whether there are lots of departures or just a few
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I think that works best if it's still given the same live time treatment on displays/apps and such. Like just show the scheduled arrival, but in showing the next scheduled arrivals on the display it provides the same convenience as a tracker without need for live tracking
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so what I'm getting out of this is that the main appeal of a live tracker from your end is a shortlist of the next, say, three departure times, updated for whatever time you're at the station? there are apps like that for Japanese transit but (afaik) they use timetables, no GPS
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Yeah, pretty much. That's what I liked about the Japanese transit displays and such. They run consistently on schedule so they don't need to live-track with GPS or anything. But the displays still provide the convenience of always knowing exactly when the next times are
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right, right--I'm just saying you can find the same information that's being displayed by checking a timetable book or website (or reading a sign on the wall at the station, etc), even if it's hours or days before you're planning on making the trip
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...whereas the accuracy of trackers changes minute-by-minute. The most infuriating thing for me is when I check bus tracker and it tells me my bus will arrive 10 minutes behind schedule...so I arrive 5 minutes behind schedule...only to find the bus caught up and left on time!
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