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by doctoboggan 1197 days ago
Does CityMapper suffer from the same "ghost bus" phenomenon that google maps does?
1 comments
valarauko 1197 days ago
What's the 'ghost bus' phenomena? I'm in NYC and don't use Google Maps.
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doctoboggan 1197 days ago
In Chicago google maps will show live bus info with the busses location on the map. However some of these are “ghost” busses and they don’t really exist.

I think it’s a uniquely Chicago problem.

Here is an article on it: https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/cta-makes-more-changes...

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valarauko 1197 days ago
Huh. In NYC I've had issues with routes designed around scheduled buses that were subsequently cancelled, but I feel I've only had that happen on Transit and not CityMapper. Live bus location on the map for a bus that isn't running is definitely news to me though.
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et-al 1197 days ago
Ghost busses are most likely an issue with the GTFS real-time data from the agency, which the app just displays.

I’ve personally also experienced the same issue with SF’s Muni.

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comte7092 1197 days ago
Can’t speak for Chicago, but this is most likely the case.

As someone who has first hand experience with transit agencies, the tech infrastructure is unfortunately not to the level it should be.

That said, google isn’t always the easiest to communicate with when trying to fix such issues.

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