Benefits of GPS On Buses
An article at UrbanCincy tells us Metro is going to update their communications system including the addition of GPS monitoring on buses. The author points out the benefits of this in knowing when your bus will actually arrive. Well, maybe.
Morning rush hour buses are pretty much on the money. In the afternoon, when dumbass kids use the bus to get home from school, it all falls apart. In the late evening, when nobody wants to stand around at the bus stop the drivers just kinda drive around at will. That is, they don't move at a constant rate.
What could be really cool is if some buses could add sensors to monitor when people enter & exit the bus (clusterfucks at the front would be a problem) & tie the recording of data to a clock so Metro would have a much better idea of where & when people are getting on & off the bus. As it is now, I am pretty sure they are going on guesstimates. Sometimes it looks like somebody is counting.
While the "every two block" bus stop model is nice, I doubt many non-regular users even know to plan on it, so some stops could probably wind up being eliminated, improving efficiency.
Not all buses would need the investment in recording hardware - just a few that could be rotated around through the routes.
Further, if you could ID a Metro Card to a passenger, he could be given an option to swipe his card on exit, providing further accuracy in how people use the bus. The rider could be rewarded with discounts on the next month's card. Or be penalized for overusing the system! EEK !