MTA officials Said 'Forget About It'

Within the spirit of 2007′s Embracing the Real World’s Messiness and 2008′s Sliding Friction, the plan to install GPS-ready bus tracking equipment to New York City buses has been pushed off indefinitely.

It’s a project that was supposed to revolutionize bus travel, telling riders exactly how long ’till the next bus, and allowing them to see the exact location of buses in real time, whether on the Internet or on a handheld device. But at a City Council oversight hearing Thursday, MTA officials said ‘forget about it’ and have officially abandoned the project, to the disbelief of lawmakers.”

“‘It’s just incredible that in this day and age, we’re nowhere closer to being able to know where the buses are at any given point,’ said Queens Councilman John Liu.”

“Under a contract awarded in 2005, tracking equipment was installed onboard 185 Manhattan buses. In August of 2007, screens began operating in test mode, but were turned off a few months later because the times were inaccurate. They’ve been dark ever since.”

Source: Planetizen

The workaround? Bus stop relaxation! (in Zürich)

Relation to my thesis: Cities Are All About Difficulty