Blog #6

     Metro.net is a webpage used for determining what time your bus comes or gives you information on TAP cards, Maps, Mobile, Code of Conduct, and Nextrip. Metro.net exists for people like me who aren't the app type and just would like to look up when the bus is arriving on the web. Or one could text them your bus code and they will text you back within seconds the time your bus is arriving. "A directional line serving a stop influences the number of passengers boarding the line at that stop, controlling for various other established factors affecting demand. This cross-sectional analysis of the variation in line boardings across about 1300 sample schedule time point bus stops served by about 300 directional bus lines over a six-month period uses a historical archive of real-time geo-referenced vehicle location data, and focuses on five different time periods, peaks and off-peaks, of a typical weekday," quotes Chakabarti, Sandip. My bus stop for example, is quite randomly put there and it's in front of a busy street so most of the time when a bus is coming, they will either miss me or stop and realize a block away that there was a person standing there (usually they keep going). The bus may not stop due to the fact that my stop doesn't attract many people because of its location and usually there isn't people at the stop at any time of the day which would explain why the buses usually don't look twice at the stop. My websites purpose is in case one doesn't have the metro app, people can look up the website and if they have the code, they can input it in the Stop # and fill in the rest of the information to access the time your bus will be arriving. 
     Metro.net's Nextrip is usually unrealiable. Dozens of people who rely on the bus to get them places know how important it is for the buses to come at a good time without them being an hour and thirty minutes late as well as how frustrating it is having buses pass a group of people for no apparent reason. While on the bus, I've heard complaints of various people, usually older women on how late the buses come. Most of them do have smart phones or at least a flip phone that is able to send text messages so it would be really fantastic if the Metro system provided each stop or at least every other stop a little plaque of information on how to access the timetables of the  bus they are taking. That way they won't have to  wait for their bus for an hour or more. Sandip says that depending on how reliable Metro is, it will affect how many people will continue to ride the bus in the future. What he says it true. Others will look for alternate ways to get to their destination like Uber or Lyft but older women who don't know how to navigate those kind of things and little kids who also rely a lot on the bus, will have a hard time getting to their designated destination if the buses keep coming late.