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Cellphone/PDA
Access > SMS
SMS
You can access
NextBus prediction via a cell phone or a PDA by sending a text message.
The resulting information will be texted back to you.
Please note:
some cell phone service plans charge you for each text message. Also,
this service is unfortunately not available in Canada at this time.
The 5-digit
text message address is 41411. The syntax for specifying a stop
is "nbus agency stop". The keyword "nbus" specifies
that you want information for nextbus. The agency name is a short abreviation
for the agency. For San Francisco Muni for example it is "sf-muni".
For some agencies there are alternative names. For example, you can substitute
"sf" for "sf-muni".
There are
two ways to specify your stop.
- Specifying
a Stop Number:
For
some agencies each stop is identified by a stop number. If stop identifiers
are available they are listed when the predictions are displayed on
the main web page, as shown in the figure to the right. If your stop
has a numeric stop id then you can simply use that id to obtain your
arrival predictions. For example, if you want information for Emery-go-Round
stop 5322 send to the address 41411 the text "nbus emery 5322".
If numeric stop identifiers are not available for your transit agency
then you must specify an address as described below.
Or
- Specifying
an Address:
You can also enter an address or an intersection and predictions for
the stops nearest the intersection. This is especially handy if you
do not know the stop id or if stop ids have not been assigned for your
agency. Only addresses and intersections can be used. You unfortunately
cannot specify landmarks such as "city hall". So for example
you can enter "nbus muni 7th&folsom" or "nbus
muni 1351 Folsom". Because predictions for several routes can
be returned, the resulting text is very terse and vowels are removed
so that information for several routes can be provided in a single text
message. If you are using a transit agency that serves multiple cities
you can specify the city name at the end of the address. For example,
you can send "nbus actransit 67th&hollis, emeryville".
You will receive predictions for all routes that serve the nearby stops.
This can provide you with too many predictions if your stop is served
by multiple routes. If you only want predictions for a particular route
you can specify the route name following the letter "r". For
example, to get the predictions just for the route 19 buses at 7th &
Folsom you would send to the address 41411 the text "nbus muni
r19 7th & folsom".
You can determine the proper agency name using the following table.
For some agencies there are multiple names that will work. For example,
for San Francisco Muni you can use "sf-muni" or "sf".
|
Agency
|
Name(s)
|
| Arizona |
| NAU & Sedona RoadRunner, AZ |
coconino
|
| California-Northern |
| AC Transit, CA |
actransit
|
| Emery-Go-Round, CA |
emery
|
| Genentech Shuttle Buses |
genentech
|
| Sacramento RTD, CA |
sacramento
|
| San Francisco Muni, CA |
sf-muni
, sf
, muni
, frisco
|
| Water Transit Authority (WTA), CA |
bawt
|
| California-Southern |
| Camarillo Area (CAT), CA |
camarillo
|
| Glendale Beeline, CA |
glendale
|
| Gold Coast Transit, CA |
south-coast
|
| Moorpark Transit, CA |
moorpark
|
| Simi Valley (SVT), CA |
simi-valley
|
| Thousand Oaks Transit (TOT), CA |
thousand-oaks
|
| Ventura Intercity (VISTA), CA |
vista
|
| Colorado |
| Black Hawk Transportation Authority, CO |
blackhawk
|
| RTD/Boulder Transit, CO |
denver-rtd
|
| Vail Resorts, CO |
snocat
|
| Vail Transit, CO |
vail
|
| Zip Shopping Shuttle, CO |
zip-shuttle
|
| Delaware |
| DART First State, DE |
delaware
|
| Florida |
| Fort Myers, FL |
ftmyers
|
| Georgia |
| Georgia State Campus, GA |
georgia-state
|
| Georgia Tech Campus, GA |
georgia-tech
|
| Illinois |
| Chicago Pace, IL |
pace
|
| Maryland |
| Howard County Paratransit, MD |
howardpt
|
| Howard County, MD |
howard
|
| Loyola College, MD |
loyola
|
| National Institutes of Health, MD |
nih
|
| Prince Georges County Paratransit, MD |
pgcpt
|
| Prince Georges County, MD |
pgc
|
| Massachusetts |
| Children's Hospital Boston, MA |
bchospital
|
| Massachusetts Institue of Technology, MA |
mit
|
| New Jersey |
| Montclair State University, NJ |
montclair
|
| Rutgers University, NJ |
rutgers
|
| New York |
| Downtown Alliance, NY |
da
|
| New York University, NY |
nyu
|
| New York Water Taxi, NY |
nywt
|
| North Carolina |
| Chapel Hill Transit, NC |
chapel-hill
|
| Elon University, NC |
elon
|
| Ohio |
| Case Western University, OH |
case-western
|
| Oklahoma |
| Oklahoma City Metro Transit, OK |
ok-city
|
| Oregon |
| Portland Streetcar |
portland-sc
|
| Pennsylvania |
| Amerimar |
amerimar
|
| South Carolina |
| University of South Carolina |
usc
|
| Virginia |
| Alexandria DASH, VA |
alexandria
|
| Fairfax (CUE), VA |
fairfax
|
| Washington |
| Seattle Streetcar, WA |
seattle-sc
|
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