When's Your Bus Coming? Metro Tests Mobile Info System

If you're among the many Angeleno transit users who have paced anxiously curbside, waiting for that damn bus to get there and hating that there was no real way of knowing when your ride was going to pull up, you might want to get on board Nextrip. Metro began testing this real-time bus arrival system yesterday, reports The Source. All you need is a cellphone.

The Source explains how Nextrip works: For those unfamiliar with real-time bus arrival systems, it’s pretty simple. Let’s say you’re at the bus stop at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and New Hampshire and want to know when the next Line 180 bus is going to arrive. The real-time system will tell you how many minutes until the 180 shows up and how long until other bus lines serving the same stop also arrive.

You can use it via mobile web, or text messaging.

A caution, though: Nextrip is in a beta testing phase, which means the system is being closely monitored by tech staff, and there may be some imperfections. If you give it a shot, let Metro know how your experience was.