Useful tool
July 9th, 2012 at 4:00 pm by David FarrarI caught a bus yesterday down to Allen Street for a yum char. I remarked to the person I was seated next to that it would be great if there was a plugin for smart phones that tells you when the next bus is for your stop, rather than have to go and look up on their website which stop you are at, and then the schedules.
He remarked that in fact Wellington Metlink website has on its mobile site such a service. It can detect your position, and show you nearby bus stops. Click on the one you want and it will tell you the next buses due there. It even highlights the ones with GPS on the bus, so the time shown for those buses is the actual time, not just the scheduled time it will get to you.
So a handy wee site for Wellington bus users. Very useful to be seated next to someone who as it turned out worked for the NZ Transport Agency 
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July 9th, 2012 at 4:09 pm
Nokia maps has this – not real time but schedule.
Vote:July 9th, 2012 at 4:14 pm
You need to get used to the nuances of the system. If the system says:
‘Due’ – Bus is about to come or has just gone.
5 minutes – Bus is due in 5 minutes according to GPS system.
9.30am – (at 9.28am) – GPS system is unaware of bus location so just displays timetable time.
9.30am line disappears – (at 9.30.59?am) – Do not give up hope just yet – bus may be a tad late.
The installation of indicators in central city has been delayed because of fears that they may obstruct the view of pedestrians about to cross the road who do not exercise basic road drill (Stop – Look Right – Look Left – Look Right Again – Cross).
Vote:July 9th, 2012 at 4:31 pm
Auckland has something very similar too
Vote:http://m.maxx.co.nz/mobile-departure-board.aspx
July 9th, 2012 at 4:33 pm
Or you could just get the (EXCELLENT) Wellington Transit App…?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=wbg.transit&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsIndiZy50cmFuc2l0Il0.
Vote:July 9th, 2012 at 4:39 pm
google maps has this function. just select the public transport option. works far better than anything else…
Vote:July 9th, 2012 at 5:08 pm
I’m a pretty casual user of the buses but found it crazy they they don’t have QR codes on each bus stop that goes to that stop’s web page so that you can jump to it easily.
I’ve been tempted to print my own for the stops near me.
Vote:July 9th, 2012 at 5:12 pm
We have this facility in Chch on lamp posts at bus stops. You don’t in Welly?
Vote:July 9th, 2012 at 5:26 pm
iMP – no we don’t.
It’s Wellington – most of the lamp posts are covered in posters (with QR codes!) inviting us to attend “Save the public service” rallies
Vote:July 9th, 2012 at 5:51 pm
iMP, there are finally a few bus stops that have the electronic timetables. There’s one or two per suburb, not nearly as many as in Chch. Hell there were more in Chch when I lived there 9 years ago then there are in Welly now.
Vote:July 9th, 2012 at 6:14 pm
What the hell are poor people doing with smartphones?
And what the hell is a bus :p
Vote:July 9th, 2012 at 6:39 pm
Eww yuk!
I can think of few things worse than taking a bus. Imagine being on one of those things and having a low life Labour voter sit down next to you.
Everybody knows that the poor smell, who wants to share any mode of transport with them?
Vote:July 9th, 2012 at 6:56 pm
big bruv
This is the city calling, can you hear us?
35,405,712 people got on the buses in the 2010/2011 year, maybe there is a reason?
Can you imagine living in a property that has no off-street parking, situated on a road where there is no on-street parking?
Can you imagine a 10km commute into town to a workplace where daytime parking costs a similar price to your rent / mortgage?
Vote:July 9th, 2012 at 7:02 pm
Useful tool? I jumped in here thinking it would be a sledge-fest on David Shearer. Damn!
Vote:July 9th, 2012 at 7:21 pm
I just don’t get why normally sensible people slam public transport seemingly because it’s a hobbie horse of the barking-mad Greens. It’s fine to detest the Green approach to forcing everyone (other then their elite) out of cars and into bus stops… but some public transport systems are fantastic in some/many circumstances. I use the bus, and ride a bike and would be one of the more rabid righties here. Oh yeah, and I punish the road with a 5.5l AMG V8 as well
Any timetabling system that helps be choose a mode of transport that best suits my needs at any given time is welcome. In this instance, the app is providing really good investment advice: How much of my time will I need to invest waiting for a bus. Armed with than knowledge I can choose to wait, catch a cab or not go at all.
Vote:July 9th, 2012 at 7:23 pm
@RRM
“35,405,712 people got on the buses in the 2010/2011 year, maybe there is a reason?”
Because somebody else (the rate and tax payer) pays more than 50% of the price for the ticket?
Vote:http://www.infometrics.co.nz/article.asp?id=5499
July 9th, 2012 at 7:56 pm
RRM
Oh don’t get me wrong, I think that public transport is great for poor people. It means there are less old cars on the road and more parks available for me to use.
Just don’t demand that I subsidise it or (as the Greens will do given the chance) force me to use it.
Let Labour and Green voters sit on a crowded bus that is thick with the stench of 60 unwashed lefties on a winters morning, meanwhile I will sit in my air conditioned car and do my best to drive through puddles so I splash them as they stand waiting in the rain for their bus that will almost certainly be late.
Vote:July 9th, 2012 at 8:29 pm
An interesting story explaining how wifi-enabled carriages undermine the cost/benefit justification for trains:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/06/on_train_wi_fi/
Vote:July 9th, 2012 at 8:29 pm
I’m with bruv.
fuck that bus shit, or any public transport for that matter.
Vote:July 9th, 2012 at 10:10 pm
There is the TransitTimes Wellington app for those with an iPhone. Well worth the money.
Vote:http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/transittimes-wellington/id420337400?mt=8
July 10th, 2012 at 1:11 pm
Remember, when the Greens get into Cabinet Power with Labour and Winston in 2014 they will have to sell the Ministerial BMWs, as they will go everywhere on the buses.
Vote:Yea !!!
July 15th, 2012 at 7:57 pm
I find the WellyBus application to work fine. Of course being in the Newlands area we do not have real time bus information, but the timetables are really great, and overall it works really well.
Vote: