New bus dispatching coming in Jan.

[pugdog]

I just got back and talked to several bus drivers about the new GPS system that is coming out. It has been in testing for the last month and should go live the middle of January. They are just finishing putting in the LCD boards and cameras in the buses and bus stops.
When it is up and running the dispatcher will be able to see what stops have people waiting and be able to send the closest emtey bus there.
The signs at the stops will tell you about how long of a wait it will be, and when the bus gets to the security gate it will say that your bus has arrived.
On the bus it will tell you about how long it will be untill you get to the park or resort. There will also be music being played and it will corespont to the park or resort that you are going to.
I'm sure there will still be some bugs to work out as they start using this systemwide but the potential of shorter bus waits for everyone surely beats what they do now.
And for those of you that think that driving to the parks is the fastest way please keep doing that. One more seat open for me since I would rather ride the bus on my vacation then drive.

 

[helenk]

Sounds interesting, I always use Disney transportation, it would be helpful to have more information while you are waiting at the depot

 

[TDC Nala]

Why do they have to play music on the frickin bus? They play music everywhere else. It's not possible to get away from the music except on the transportation.

 

[VAgal76]

I just got back and talked to several bus drivers about the new GPS system that is coming out. It has been in testing for the last month and should go live the middle of January. They are just finishing putting in the LCD boards and cameras in the buses and bus stops.
When it is up and running the dispatcher will be able to see what stops have people waiting and be able to send the closest emtey bus there.
The signs at the stops will tell you about how long of a wait it will be, and when the bus gets to the security gate it will say that your bus has arrived.
On the bus it will tell you about how long it will be untill you get to the park or resort. There will also be music being played and it will corespont to the park or resort that you are going to.
I'm sure there will still be some bugs to work out as they start using this systemwide but the potential of shorter bus waits for everyone surely beats what they do now.
And for those of you that think that driving to the parks is the fastest way please keep doing that. One more seat open for me since I would rather ride the bus on my vacation then drive.

Ok, that's way cool! I'm with you on another thing - I completely enjoy not having to drive and use their transportation system as much as possible. It's one of the things that draws me there. I'm sick of driving all the time and I never have to worry about a designated driver.

 

[I'mNoPrince]

Totally agree.

I wonder if it's like the Nextel Dots to help keep track of things.

I like the idea of the cameras to help but that would only work at the parks.

Maybe a call button type system at the resorts will be implemented.

Say we have 4 families going to each of the main parks at the SSR Springs bus stop how will they know what bus to send and where they are going.

We use the buses even though we rent for off-sight things and grocery stops. I drive all day and don't want to on Vacation if at all possible.

Any improvement would be great even though I think for the most part things run smooth.

I also noticed on our Dec trip that many of the buses had a new LED readout of the current time.

 

[pugdog]

Totally agree.

I wonder if it's like the Nextel Dots to help keep track of things.

I like the idea of the cameras to help but that would only work at the parks.

Yah all of the drivers will be little colored balls.
I didn't even think about asking about resorts with single bus stops. At the values it won't be a big deal since each park has it's own stop.

 

[nextidiot]

Awesome. Long overdue!

Round of applause for the bus navigation installer er, uh, people. Yeah.

 

[Mickiethepooh]

Does that also mean they will be able to tell when they have one or several wheelchairs waiting? It would be nice if they had a separate area for them to wait it can get very confusing for everyone as it is.

 

[pugdog]

Does that also mean they will be able to tell when they have one or several wheelchairs waiting? It would be nice if they had a separate area for them to wait it can get very confusing for everyone as it is.

There already is a separate area for wheelchairs to wait. All of the queues have a universal wheelchair sign now to tell you where to go, Except for the single bus stop resorts. And hopefully with the cameras they will be able to see if there are more then 2 wheelchairs and can send another bus for that stop.The confusing part is that people that use wheelchairs and have never been to WDW before don't know that.

 

[gtrist4life]

Ok, bumping this back up to see if folks can give recent reports of how the new system is working. On other threads, I've seen mixed reviews.

Does anyone have an inside scoop to how things are supposed to work vs how they actually are working?

Thanks!

 

[ztbz]

Ok, I post a quick updated, The system is now running on most buses (except on a few of the RTS buses that are going to be Retired soon) for all parks and Downtown Disney.

To the person wanting to know if the Control Room knows when W/C's are being broaded, yes they know when the W/C Lift or Ramp is actived, a signal is sent to let the control room know that one or two w/c's are being Loaded or Unloaded.

The system is not yet fully functionable yet, but is planned for October this year, provided that the bugs can be worked out. This past week I had the computer on the bus crash on me 5 times before I set the bus to manual mode. Which means I turned the system off, When the computer crashes the Marqee sign on the bus stops working, cuts off the P.A. mike, music and spiels stops playing etc. And after this happen to me and to all the other bus drivers, it was time to run the bus like we use to do.

In other news, the company that Disney hired to install the system has parted ways with Disney, not sure if Disney fired them or if they told Disney that what they wanted to do was not possible, which is why they are still having trouble with the system.

One tech note: I was told that each bus has its own computer, which is a Windows XP machine, but I was shocked when I found out that each CPU has only 256k memory. Which is why I think may be the reason why the system keeps crashing.

 

[ParrotBill]

I bet it's 256MB not 256K...

My educated guess is the system uses Windows XP embedded, which can be used to create a dedicated application system that has only the parts of Windows needed for the application. You can deploy a system with as little as 128MB memory, but 256MB is recommended.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/embedded/aa714387.aspx

 

[cranbiz]

I bet it's 256MB not 256K...

My educated guess is the system uses Windows XP embedded, which can be used to create a dedicated application system that has only the parts of Windows needed for the application. You can deploy a system with as little as 128MB memory, but 256MB is recommended.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/embedded/aa714387.aspx

You are correct Bill. It is embedded XP.

The entire system crashed Saturday. It seems that an untested upgrade was pushed. Most were back up and operational on Sunday.

Made for an interesting night.

 

[bntlyclg89]

So does this mean that POFQ won't necessarily be "first" in AM runs to the various parks? Or does this affect busses that are already running. Hope someone can answer my question...

 

[cranbiz]

POFQ is not necessarly the first one in the morning. A lot of times it is but not always. Never has been.

Buses at PO dispatched in the AM are dispatched based upon need. The need is actually determined by a resort CM and communicated to the dispatcher. A run to MK may start at West and service W,N,E, S and then FQ. It may start at FQ and then do S,W,N,E. It may also start at South and then do W,N,E and FQ. The runs to the other parks are exactly the same.

 

[bntlyclg89]

Thanks for the info Cranbiz, and btw, I'm originally from Wareham!

 

[goofy4tink]

Sure are a lot of current and past Mass people here!!! I have to wonder why it is that there are so many former New Englanders down in WDW, particularly driving those buses??!!!

 

[pumpkinboy]

Why do they have to play music on the frickin bus? They play music everywhere else. It's not possible to get away from the music except on the transportation.

I recommend those light foam earplugs for avoiding music on the buses; either those or an IPod.

 

[ztbz]

You could ask the bus driver to turn down the music or even turn it off, its possible for the driver to do this, well at least it is now, but Disney managment could change that when the system is officaily running in October.

Beilive me many drivers like myself get tried of hearing the same music over and over again. Also guest on some routes get to hear the same music twice before they get off the bus. On the Animal kingdom routes from Port Orleans and Old Key West, as well as Saratoga Springs. the music starts out will Animal Kingdom music, as the bus leaves the last stop at the resort it changes to Blizzard Beach music, then as the bus leaves Blizzard beach it changes back to the Animal Kingdom track and starts over at the beginning of the track again. Disney Management has stated to us drivers they planned to have the music become random at some point, hopefully soon.

 

[Chip 'n Dale Express]

Of all the buses I've ridden recently, I could BARELY hear the music... and all of those buses were virtually empty. There's no chance I'd hear the music on a bus with bunches of people. (The announcements however were at a proper volume level)