# New Greyhound GPS Bus Tracker



## Swadian Hardcore (Jun 13, 2015)

Woot! It's about damn time, Greyhound! They just released their new GPS-based bus tracker: http://bustracker.greyhound.com/.

I'm very impressed at something: it shows the bus number for each schedule! So now I can not only find out where the schedule is, I can also find out what exact bus number is running it. Great if you're trying to avoid the Torture Machines. And no more need for guessing on Greyhound equipment!


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## oiky (Jun 13, 2015)

Looks like I was right in predicting that the staff at Jackson jumped the gun! I will use this tomorrow to see which torture machine is taking us from Portland to Seattle!


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## Swadian Hardcore (Jun 13, 2015)

That will be a through schedule that came from Los Angeles. That bus would have departed already, so you can check it now.

If you're taking the 9:45 AM, you'll be riding D4505 #86521. If you're taking the 11:55 AM out of Portland, you will be riding D4505 #86351. If you're taking the 5:05 PM, you will be riding D4505 #86313.

So, whichever schedule you are taking, it will be a D4505 Torture Machine.


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## oiky (Jun 13, 2015)

Strangely my ticket says 11:30 so I can only imagine that the schedule has changed since I booked it 3 months ago and it's now at 11:55... Maybe I should phone the station at the morning but it does look that way from the extra net schedule!

I think we got the d4505 as our replacement bus with the Arizona breakdown incident mentioned in the other thread. You can imagine how thrilled everyone was after an hour of that after waiting 5 hours for it to arrive


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## Swadian Hardcore (Jun 13, 2015)

Yeah, the D4505 is Greyhound's least comfortable bus.


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## railiner (Jun 13, 2015)

This is great! Thanks Swadian, for posting it! :hi:

I see they even put our bus number's on the pooled runs. Now I can look up to see what's coming, without having to have access to BOSS.


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## oiky (Jun 13, 2015)

Looks like my bus this morning was cancelled at Redding according to the tracker... Sigh... Well. Will be at the station in an hour to see what's going on!


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## Swadian Hardcore (Jun 13, 2015)

I found out what happened. The bus you were supposed to take broke down near Redding. The schedule is now running 6 hours late. Currently, the replacement bus (G4500 #7125) is heading northbound in Southern Oregon between Medford and Eugene. ETA at Portland is 5:17 PM and it will stop for 50 minutes before departing at an estimated 6:07 PM.

You might as well spend an extra afternoon in Portland, I guess. Not a bad city. You'll probably get to Seattle around 10:00 PM. At least you won't get tortured on D4505 #86351, since that bus broke down. It may be only 5 years old, but it's already unreliable. This is why I hate D4505s.


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## oiky (Jun 13, 2015)

Theyve run an extra bus from portland to seattle, bonus as its pretty empty but Check out the tracker now, Its all confused because of what's happened!

If you search by schedule number it will tell you the data is currently unavailable but if you search by location first and then the schedule you can see that it's now tracking the new bus departing from Portland. Its claiming it's running about half an hour late from Portland which isn't true but even more interesting is that the dark blue line running down the left hand side still shows the location of the original bus (somewhere in between Medford and Eugene) but the times from Eugene onwards are set to default.

I'm a software/web application tester so its amusing for me to see that there's a scenario which has broke the system only 2 days in to its publicly released life. Technology


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## Swadian Hardcore (Jun 13, 2015)

I think the problem is that, whenever Greyhound adds an extra bus to, say, Schedule 1440, it becomes 1440-2. But 1440-2 isn't entered in the tracker, so problems occur.


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## railiner (Jun 13, 2015)

Not sure how it is set up...1440-2 would be a second section. If they are going to 'set in' a bus to replace a late running original first section due to a breakdown, whether the new bus is called a second section or a replacement for the late trip can certainly cause confusion. And then if the original is so late that it is cancelled at some point and remaining passengers transferred to a subsequent trip......well it can get confusing...


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## Swadian Hardcore (Jun 13, 2015)

Looks like he's riding a D4505 anyway. It's #86521. I've ridden that one, at least it was tolerable when I rode it.


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## oiky (Jun 13, 2015)

Its not that bad but there's probably only about ten people on it which makes it far more bearable, this has got to be the worst leg room out of the dozen or so greyhounds I've been on so far though


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## Swadian Hardcore (Jun 13, 2015)

The D4505 has varying legroom between the rows. You'll probably find more legroom if you switch seats. Sit towards the back, maybe.


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## tp49 (Jun 13, 2015)

I took a look at the tracker and I must say I like it definite step in the right direction. It is accessible through their mobile app? Is their mobile app any good?


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## rickycourtney (Jun 14, 2015)

It's definitely a step in the right direction and it seems very robust. This will be a huge benefit to every Greyhound passenger. While waiting at a small town stop, now you'll know if you have enough time to grab a bite to eat or use the restroom... or if you have to hurry to the stop.

At this point BusTracker is not accessible through the mobile app... but the website is mobile friendly.

The mobile app is good, but the problem is that Greyhound still doesn't have eTicketing and their accounting procedures require a printed ticket. If you're departing from the few large stations that have a ticket pickup kiosk, this isn't a huge problem, but at most stations you'll have to will call your tickets and pick them up by waiting in line at the station (saving you zero time) or by printing them out (likely from a computer, negating the usefulness of a smartphone app).

eTicketing is the next technology hurdle for Greyhound, and it's one they're already working on, but I'm actually glad Greyhound tackled the BusTracker before rolling out eTicketing nationwide.


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## Swadian Hardcore (Jun 14, 2015)

Greyhound drivers told me that the BusTracker only works when the bus driver signs in with VRU to the system (don't know what VRU is, but has to do with Greyhound dispatching). If he signs in late, then the BusTracker says the bus departed s late even when he isn't. Of course that should correct itself once the driver reaches the next stop.


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## rickycourtney (Jun 14, 2015)

Swadian Hardcore said:


> (don't know what VRU is, but has to do with Greyhound dispatching).


*V*oice *R*esponse *U*nit

From an NTSB accident report:



> Since 1992, Greyhound has utilized the VRU, a computerized communication system, for bus drivers to transmit information to Greyhound management. The system employs between 100 and 120 lines to accommodate calls. According to Greyhound, 75 percent of the calls to the dispatch center are through the VRU system.
> 
> Greyhound operation requires drivers to enter their current terminal location through the VRU telephone keypad. Greyhound officials stated that as much as a 15-minute delay can occur from the time a driver arrives at a terminal and the time he actually enters information into the VRU system. They said that the drivers’ duties vary from terminal to terminal, which could delay the VRU transmission. Greyhound officials also reported that a through driver (one who is continuing his trip to another terminal to load or unload passengers) can do both the inbound and outbound call at the same time.
> 
> In addition, management uses the VRU system to call drivers to work, to notify drivers of run bid changes, to gather passenger counts for planning purposes, and to broadcast safety messages. The drivers can also use it to monitor the assignment board and to receive personal mailbox messages.


It sounds like a phone based system for drivers to call into to sign in/out and give dispatchers updates. I imagine it's largely been replaced by the CADEC system now where drivers signs in on a keypad onboard the coach.


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## Swadian Hardcore (Jun 14, 2015)

Well, the same drivers told me the BusTracker is based off VRU and not CADEC. They say it will work when CADEC isn't, but won't update until they report with VRU. A driver said he was marked late due to VRU even though he was actually on time.


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## railiner (Jun 14, 2015)

I thought that the Tracker relies on driver's inputting data on the Load Count Entry computer's at every 'reporting point'.......

As far as CADEC....the need for driver's to 'log on' before starting the bus has been disabled on almost every bus......


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## Swadian Hardcore (Jun 15, 2015)

Yeah, the drivers are saying their runs are showing up late because they didn't log on on time.


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## rickycourtney (Jun 15, 2015)

Well than ignore the part I wrote about the CADEC... the rest still stands.


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