Solving the Mystery of Ghost Buses with Clever Devices

Your customer is standing at a bus stop, eagerly anticipating their ride home after a long day at work. The clock is ticking, and they’re tracking the real-time updates on their phone, but the bus never arrives. They just encountered a "ghost bus" - a term used to describe a situation where a bus is scheduled to run on a specific route at a specific time but doesn't show up as expected – and they’re angry!

Ghost Buses – An Unfortunate Reality

Ghost buses are an unfortunate reality in public transit. When a bus expected to arrive doesn’t appear, it is a massive source of frustration and disruption for your riders. But ghost buses also lead to problems within your operations. Bus operators need to be aware of real-time service changes to deliver quality service, and passengers on board need to be informed of how their ride may be affected. Finally, the accuracy and integrity of your on-time performance and ridership reporting tools must reflect these changes. In this blog, we'll explore the issue of ghost buses in public transit and how Clever Devices offers the only comprehensive solution to help transit agencies deal with this issue efficiently.

Impacting Riders, Operators, and the Accuracy of Your Data

Clever Devices recognizes the critical management decisions service managers make every day to deal with service disruptions. CleverCAD’s Disruption Management module allows service managers to make real-time changes, such as changing the service day, canceling stops or trips, or creating a detour, and automatically identifies and updates all the people and systems impacted by the change.

• Riders: Real-time service changes are automatically communicated by BusTime to riders through maps, mobile devices, websites, digital signage, and social media. These changes are also available to 3^rd party applications through GTFS-RT. On-board the vehicle, stop announcements and digital signage are automatically updated, as well.
• Bus Operators: Operator paddles and turn-by-turn maps are updated over-the-air on vehicles running service affected by the change. Operators are alerted of these changes both audibly and visually through text message alerts on the Transit Control Head as they occur.
• Reports: Any real-time adjustments are automatically reflected in our reporting solutions, CleverReports, CleverMetrix, and CleverInsights. This ensures you have an accurate measurement of what actually happened.

Ghost buses are a significant problem in the public transit industry, and Clever Devices is the only technology provider offering a truly comprehensive solution to address this issue. By keeping everyone “in the know” and communicating real-time changes automatically, transit operators can better manage their operations while providing passengers with the reliable and efficient transportation experience they deserve.

By choosing Clever Devices, transit agencies not only address the challenge of ghost buses but also gain a competitive edge in the industry. It's time to leave ghost buses behind and ensure a more reliable and efficient public transit system for everyone. With Clever Devices' technology, we're solving the mystery of ghost buses, one update at a time.