RouteShout, a free service that allows Port Authority bus riders to access bus arrival times from their mobile phones, is being tested at selected bus stops around the City of Pittsburgh.
RouteShout, launched in Pittsburgh by deeplocal, a CMU spin-off mobile technology company, is currently being beta tested by the Port Authority of Allegheny County at 22 stops located in areas that service primarily college students. The RouteShout service enables public transit companies to make their timetable data accessible over text message and mobile phone.
Passengers simply text in a stop ID printed on a bus stop sign near them, and they receive information about the next buses scheduled to come their way. The Port Authority created and installed orange signs at 22 select stops around the city each labeled with a unique code. The service uses these codes to pull timetable and location data of bus stops from the Port Authority’s database.
A bus rider simply texts in the unique bus stop code to receive arrival times for the next buses scheduled to arrive at that stop. Additional features are being developed by deeplocal that improve the accessibility of the RouteShout service. Since preliminary testing began in late December, several thousand passengers have used RouteShout to retrieve information about upcoming buses.
This system marks the beginning of a set of opportunities to provide information to transit riders about where they are and what is available around them. Bus stops can become living kiosks of information, requiring no physical maintenance at a low cost. Pending the success of this beta testing period, the Port Authority may expand the service to additional stops throughout the county.
RouteShout is one of several text message based applications built on deeplocal’s proprietary Gumband platform. Early support for this platform’s development came from the Sprout Fund’s Engage Pittsburgh Award.
