Disney Bus Transportation: Clever Devices Intelligent Transportation System (ITS)

No Name

No Name

Well-Known Member
I stayed on property recently and the arrival times on the screen were so wildly inaccurate it basically wasn’t worth looking at them. They’d be of little use anyway considering you’re at the bus stop already. It’ll be nice if/when accurate times are shown in the app.

Kamikaze said:
Eh, just an old school touchscreen UI. Really nothing wrong with the functionality.
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There was also nothing wrong with the functionality of wdwmagic.com in 2005 but the site thankfully looks much better now. Decent UI isn’t too expensive and helps get clients and users on board.
 
Sirwalterraleigh

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
trainplane3 said:
Hey, thanks to automation I get more monorail time! Who doesn't like to be on the monorail?


Okay, it's because it kept overshooting the stations many times. Then a few times over-backed up. Then pulled forward too far again. Then backed up again and got it right.
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Yeah...there was also an “incident”
 
Sirwalterraleigh

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
DVCakaCarlF said:
Speaking of monorail, my understanding is that despite there being 12 monorails, only nine can run at any given time due to the electrical load...I wonder if that has anything to do with the delayed upgrades, other than the current recession.
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They always have run on the “3s” plan. 3 on the ttc line, 3 on the seven seas line, 3 on the Epcot line...3 in the roundhouse.

I think its space and maintenance more than electricity:

That’s an old, bad system. I don’t believe they are committed to it longterm at all. That’s always laughed at but nothing about the monorails would indicate they want to keep it.

This financial situation probably gives it longer life...in a weird way. They won’t be looking to dump money in. Creaky trains forever.
 
D

DVCakaCarlF

Well-Known Member
Sirwalterraleigh said:
They always have run on the “3s” plan. 3 on the ttc line, 3 on the seven seas line, 3 on the Epcot line...3 in the roundhouse.

I think its space and maintenance more than electricity:

That’s an old, bad system. I don’t believe they are committed to it longterm at all. That’s always laughed at but nothing about the monorails would indicate they want to keep it.

This financial situation probably gives it longer life...in a weird way. They won’t be looking to dump money in. Creaky trains forever.
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What make OLCs so much better? Or “easier” to upgrade?
 
UNCgolf

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
When I was there in January the bus arrival times were relatively accurate, with the caveat that it would sometimes tell you one was coming at 11:20, and then at 11:15, change to say it was coming at 11:35. That's still better than it continuing to say 11:20 well past that time, of course.

The bigger issue was that you'd sometimes see three buses come for one location before a single bus came for another. Sometimes the same park would have two buses come only a minute or two apart. It's not very fun to be waiting for a bus to Magic Kingdom for 25 minutes and see three buses for Hollywood Studios stop during that time period, especially when they're all mostly empty and no one is getting on.

Seemed like there was a definite problem coordinating/dispatching buses to the proper locations.
 
C

Chip Chipperson

Well-Known Member
UNCgolf said:
When I was there in January the bus arrival times were relatively accurate, with the caveat that it would sometimes tell you one was coming at 11:20, and then at 11:15, change to say it was coming at 11:35. That's still better than it continuing to say 11:20 well past that time, of course.

The bigger issue was that you'd sometimes see three buses come for one location before a single bus came for another. Sometimes the same park would have two buses come only a minute or two apart. It's not very fun to be waiting for a bus to Magic Kingdom for 25 minutes and see three buses for Hollywood Studios stop during that time period, especially when they're all mostly empty and no one is getting on.

Seemed like there was a definite problem coordinating/dispatching buses to the proper locations.
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Yeah, on a trip last year we saw a bus for Hollywood Studios waiting directly behind another bus for Hollywood Studios at our resort bus stop. Unfortunately, we weren't headed to Hollywood Studios.
 
Kamikaze

Kamikaze

Well-Known Member
egg said:
There was also nothing wrong with the functionality of wdwmagic.com in 2005 but the site thankfully looks much better now. Decent UI isn’t too expensive and helps get clients and users on board.
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You don't need to 'get clients and users on board' when its something thats required for the job. This isn't a guest facing system.

Mouse Transit said:
Sorry for the confusion.

First, I never said the previous system wasn't IP-based nor connected to a network. Second, as far as the term "IP-based" meaning zero, it means it's digital and not analog, like a paper timesheet which bus drivers still use. Here's one:

There's been a change in how buses are dispatched with the new system. If anyone is "insinuating" an improvement in the effectiveness of their new system it's Clever Devices - not me. The whole point of my post is to show that the new system is NOT accurate. As I said, actual DHS and MK bus arrival and departure times (old system) were far more accurate than DAK and DS buses (new system) in February/March based on my observations and data collection.

If I'm still unclear, let me be blunt: if we're desiring more accurate arrival/departure times, the entire bus transportation system is better off with paper timesheets and radios right now than with the new Clever Devices system in its current state.

But, that's my opinion, of course :)
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But that still has nothing to do with it being 'IP based'. You're basically just saying 'they enter the times on a computer now.' Which, obviously, yes, that is better than the driver keeping all the times to himself on a piece of paper. But they should be using a fleet tracking system that would allow them to track the buses by GPS and could automatically estimate arrival times based on the route.

Sirwalterraleigh said:
Thanks, Debbie 😡

(This is a fan site...don’t be so serious)
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Not exactly sure what it being a 'fan site' has to do with anything. I wasn't calling out the IP part, just saying that because it had an IP address doesn't make the system better.

UNCgolf said:
When I was there in January the bus arrival times were relatively accurate, with the caveat that it would sometimes tell you one was coming at 11:20, and then at 11:15, change to say it was coming at 11:35. That's still better than it continuing to say 11:20 well past that time, of course.

The bigger issue was that you'd sometimes see three buses come for one location before a single bus came for another. Sometimes the same park would have two buses come only a minute or two apart. It's not very fun to be waiting for a bus to Magic Kingdom for 25 minutes and see three buses for Hollywood Studios stop during that time period, especially when they're all mostly empty and no one is getting on.

Seemed like there was a definite problem coordinating/dispatching buses to the proper locations.
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That usually happens when one of the buses has to load an ECV.
 
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Creathir

Creathir

Well-Known Member
Mouse Transit said:
Also, during that time, I discussed these issues with about 40-50 bus drivers.
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The one time the infamous bus driver could provide surprisingly accurate information.

All kidding aside, this is amazing sleuthing.
I remember about 4-5 years ago TWDC was hiring software engineers with transport system experience, specifically in the area of bus routing. This system must be the fruits of those efforts.
Thanks for sharing your research!
 
Sirwalterraleigh

Sirwalterraleigh

Premium Member
Kamikaze said:
Not exactly sure what it being a 'fan site' has to do with anything. I wasn't calling out the IP part, just saying that because it had an IP address doesn't make the system better.
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Ya just seem so miffed all the time.

No worries, hombre...not like we’re talking about awful franchise movies or anything 😎
 
_caleb

_caleb

Well-Known Member
So, as others have asked, why this approach and NOT just a GPS-based knockoff of Uber’s app? That would allow for geofencing at the previous stop to send users alerts “the bus you’re looking for just left the stop immediately before yours.” Which is really all most of us would need.

Also, why is WDW still using buses? :)
 
asianway

asianway

Well-Known Member
Sirwalterraleigh said:
They always have run on the “3s” plan. 3 on the ttc line, 3 on the seven seas line, 3 on the Epcot line...3 in the roundhouse.

I think its space and maintenance more than electricity:

That’s an old, bad system. I don’t believe they are committed to it longterm at all. That’s always laughed at but nothing about the monorails would indicate they want to keep it.

This financial situation probably gives it longer life...in a weird way. They won’t be looking to dump money in. Creaky trains forever.
Click to expand...
11 was the number in the mornings for years and years, 12 on a busy day. They can even run 5 on Epcot race days.
 

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