Trimess

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

TRANSIT TRACKER ON THE FRITZ

TriMet ‏ @trimet

TransitTracker is currently displaying scheduled times for bus arrivals rather than real-time arrivals. The issue will be resolved tomorrow.

8 comments:

Erik H. said...

But, if this involved MAX it'd be fixed in a timely manner. Bus riders are just expected to wait...

Anonymous said...

Not true,
MAX transit tracker is often showing scheduled times. The last few days until yesterday morning it was showing scheduled times.

Anonymous said...

Also, the interactive map has never been able to show train positions, unlike with buses.

And at least internally train locations are more important since trains are controllers need to know where they are in relation to other trains and things going on.

Anonymous said...

Transit tracker has never been very accurate for the MAX in my experience. It often displays "scheduled time" and if you call customer service, they can't tell you where your train is, either.

Erik H. said...

And at least internally train locations are more important since trains are controllers need to know where they are in relation to other trains and things going on.

Are you suggesting that TriMet is running an entire light rail network without a safe CTC system?

Anonymous said...

Looking back at my comment, it should have been "since controllers need to know".

But I'm not sure what is meant by "running an entire light rail network without a safe CTC system?". Just because the public may not be able to know where the trains are doesn't mean the people on the inside don't.

Max said...

I believe when the green line was opened there were some changes needed to make TransitTracker for the MAX work correctly and they switched to scheduled times only. I don't know if those issues ever got fixed.

Seems like that's probably a good question for the boy wonder.

TriMet does, however, know which block every train is in.

Erik H. said...

"But I'm not sure what is meant by "running an entire light rail network without a safe CTC system?". Just because the public may not be able to know where the trains are doesn't mean the people on the inside don't."

The comment you stated was: "And at least internally train locations are more important since trains are controllers need to know where they are in relation to other trains and things going on." Transit Tracker is a GPS based system that is entirely separate from the CTC system used by dispatchers. If you are suggesting that TriMet's expedited response to Transit Tracker failures on the MAX system has to do with the safety system (CTC), then it could very well be argued that Transit Tracker, being an non-critical system, is directly affecting the safety of MAX.

The reality is that Transit Tracker is not tied to CTC (because, it wouldn't be really smart to give the public access to the CTC just like the public wouldn't want access to the SCADA system that controls the catenary system and, if accessed, one could remotely "turn on" and "turn off" MAX by having full control of every traction substation.