Riders can track Detroit buses with new online map

Commuters in the city looking to track the location and on-time performance of their Detroit Department of Transportation bus now have access through the Web.

DDOT officials said Wednesday the agency’s website, www.RideDetroitTransit.com, will feature a color-coded map that shows where the bus is and the on-time performance of every bus in the city’s fleet on the road.

The color codes are green for on time, yellow for five minutes late, orange for 10 minutes late and red for 20 minutes-plus late. The website tracker system has been active for about a month.

“The thing that makes this even nicer is that it’s visual,” said DDOT director Dan Dirks. “You’d be able to see exactly where your bus is and how close to being on time it is. We really want people to see how we’re doing all the time. It’s a transparency thing. They get to see what’s going on.”

Dirks said the buses have a GPS system that provides the information either by accessing the website with a computer or phone.

He said he goes to the website “four or five times a day” to see how the buses are doing. “If one’s red, I’ll see what’s going on to see if there’s a real problem,” he said. “If there’s one that’s particularly late, I will check with someone in operations. If they are seven minutes late, I know they’re just catching up.”

Dirks said buses in DDOT are now 70 percent on time and “we’re not getting that many complaints for late buses.”

Mayor Mike Duggan said he is pleased with the bus agency’s efforts to improve service for riders.

“We hope that equipping current and potential riders with efficient tools such as this new bus tracking map, will make their travel easier and more reliable,” he said in a statement.

lfleming@detroitnews.com

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Twitter:@leonardnfleming