Google Android Cell Phone Application For Roosevelt Island GPS Red Bus Service - How Cool Is That!

Roosevelt Island Android Phone GPS Red Bus Image From RI Bus Tracker

When thinking about New York City Sillicon Alley neighborhoods known for early adopter geeks and innovative use of wireless technology you might include, among others, Chelsea, Flatiron, Lower East Side and Williamsburg. Well, don't laugh but Roosevelt Island may be inching its way on that list as well with the introduction of a brand new Google Android Cell Phone Application for its residents.

From Roosevelt Island resident Vinicius Fortuna.

I wrote you before about the "Roosevelt Island Search Engine".
Now I'm writing to let you know that I have recently launched the "Roosevelt Island Bus Tracker" for android phones. The idea is to track the red buses so you know whether you should wait or walk, and make your own predictions (since the ones from NextBus can be unreliable). You can also see how many buses are running at any moment.

More information and screenshots can be found at ... ribustracker.viniciusfortuna ...

One known issue is that I don currently track the Octagon express or the Firehose buses. They are the extra buses that run on rush hours. I plan to add those when I have some more time. (this is all done in my free time, for "fun" :-) )

I hope you can give it a try, and feel free to post something in the blog.

I use the Apple Iphone so can't use the application but if you use Android, give it a try. Vini is also working on additional features such as MTA advisories.

More on Roosevelt Island Red Bus GPS Tracking System from Next Bus here. Also, RIOC President Steve Shane's November 18 report (item 8) indicated problems with the Next Bus GPS Tracking system:

Red Buses: Two new Hybrid Buses are delivered and on the street. Look for Numbers 5 and 6. The Nextbus system vendor has not been able to get the GPS transponders onto the new buses, so the reliability of Nextbus is temporarily up in the air. We are cooperating, but not in our control.

but RIOC Director Jonathan Kalkin Tweeted later that the problem has been resolved:

Contacted NEXTBUS.COM other day and they will be putting GPS trackers on the 2 new Roosevelt Island Red Buses by today! Nice!