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Councilman Wants Real-Time Bus Arrivals Displayed On LinkNYC Kiosks

By Caroline Spivack | September 25, 2017 4:15pm
 Councilman Brad Lander is calling on the city to partner with LinkNYC and the MTA to add real-time bus data to kiosks for those without the convenience of a bus countdown clock.
Councilman Brad Lander is calling on the city to partner with LinkNYC and the MTA to add real-time bus data to kiosks for those without the convenience of a bus countdown clock.
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DNAinfo/Caroline Spivack

PARK SLOPE — Councilman Brad Lander is calling on the city to bridge the information gap for bus routes without countdown clocks by adding real-time arrival data to LinkNYC's internet kiosks, he said at a Monday news conference. 

Under the proposal the city would join forces with LinkNYC to develop software that would display Metropolitan Transportation Authority data on local bus routes, giving travelers the option to scroll through the info before charting out their course, explained Lander.

"We believe it would be very straightforward for the New York City agencies that manage those platforms to make it so that the Link displays real time bus arrival information," Lander said at the B67 stop on Seventh Avenue and Ninth Street. "And if we do that together with the deployment of bus clocks at key intersections we could achieve a very rapid expansion of bus time information in a very affordable way for New York." 

The Department of Transportation recently installed six countdown clocks along the B61, B63, B67 and B69 routes on Seventh Avenue and Ninth Street, Flatbush Avenue; on Fifth Avenue at Seventh Street; on Atlantic Avenue and Court Street; and Columbia Street and Carroll Street. 

Six more are being installed on Seventh Avenue and Sixth Street, 11th Street; Fifth Avenue and Ninth Street, Dean street; and at Flatbush Avenue at Grand Army Plaza.

Another dozen are slated for Windsor Terrace and Kensington.

These are among the 350 countdown clocks the Department of Transportation is in the process of rolling out across the city, but with more than 15,000 bus stops, the new technology hardly makes a dent for the majority of riders, added Lander. 

LinkNYC has already installed 1,000 wireless internet terminals across the city with another 6,500 on the way, and by sharing the real-time data across platforms, anyone on the street would have that information at their fingertips. Park Slope already has nearly a dozen of the wireless terminals. 

Due to the city's franchise agreement with LinkNYC, the terminals cannot be within 15 feet of a bus stop to ensure they remain accessible, according to a spokeswoman with the DOT. But several of the kiosks sit on thoroughfares that are just a short walk from bus stops.

A representative from LinkNYC said they are already working to improve transit updates offered by its terminals, and are open to the idea.

"We are actively working to add relevant transit updates to the local information already provided on the large displays," said Ruth Fasoldt, community affairs manager.