AI to track STM buses for app
The folks who developed the Transit app have created a new function which will use AI to track buses in real time, allowing users to see immediately whether their bus has been sent on a detour. The functionality will also be added to the STM website.
(Excellent photo at the top of the story, with a person apparently in despair about the bus. The election poster in the background features Marcel Côté, who ran for mayor in 2013.)
carswell 11:24 on 2023-02-27 Permalink
She was probably waiting for the 747 and realizing she wasn’t going to make her flight.
Thomas 11:34 on 2023-02-27 Permalink
Oh là là, how fancy. What, an illegibly scrawled message by an STM employee in black marker on a piece of cardboard cut out of an old box and duct taped to the bus stop isn’t good enough anymore??? 😉
Seriously though, just making the real-time bus tracking functionality from 2018 work reliably would be more helpful to me than this. Also, some way to see in an app when a bus departure has been outright cancelled would be nice. But AI makes for an exciting headline.
Spi 11:38 on 2023-02-27 Permalink
Wasn’t the 2018 feature of real-time bus tracking entirely dependent on Transit app users and not actual GPS data from the bus? From my vague recollection a user would need to use the transit app and leave it open during their commute since they would be the one geolocating the bus in real time.
Blork 11:43 on 2023-02-27 Permalink
I’m looking forward to the “deep fake” buses, where you think you’re on the 24 heading east on Sherbrooke but in fact you’re in the back of a garbage truck.
Thomas 11:53 on 2023-02-27 Permalink
@SPI Both exist. GPS in the buses was rolled out in 2018, that’s how they are able to announce the stops on board. But there is also an independent system run by the Transit app that I believe predates the onboard GPS, whereby users of the app can opt in to sharing their location while on a bus. The two continue to operate independently of each other.
It’s just that the STM GPS data doesn’t always make it from their API to the various apps that plug into it (including Transit — which is why it’s helpful for Transit to have a backup system)
jaddle 15:26 on 2023-02-27 Permalink
They can show cancelled departures – I’ve seen it *once*. (the schedule time has a strikethrough). I agree that this would be extremely useful, as would just consistent gps data. Is the bus cancelled, or is it 10 minutes late? It’d be really good to know. Also, some way to show when the bus will be starting its route – for example, catching the 90 at Alexis Nihon, half the time, the bus finishes an eastbound route and turns around to start the westbound. It’d be great if the app could figure out from the late arrival that the departure will also be late.