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.

1. 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
   
   
2. 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