MBTA aims to give developers real-time data

BOSTON – MBTA riders might soon be able to check the exact location of trains and buses on their handheld devices, according to public radio station WBUR-FM.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is giving software companies data to create iPhone applications and other software that display subway, bus, train and regional transit information.
Colin Durrant, a spokesman for the Mass. Executive Office of Transportation, told reporters that the state hopes eventually to offer the data in real-time, allowing MBTA riders to know the precise location of their bus, train or subway car at any given moment.
“Say there’s a Boston University student who’s waiting out in the freezing cold,” software developer Luke Bornheimer told WBUR. “They’re waiting for a train outside. Instead, they’d know when the train’s coming and they can wait inside until it’s a block or two away.”
The news comes two weeks after the MBTA announced a partnership with Google, allowing MBTA schedules to be incorporated into the Google Transit trip-planning function.
The MBTA is the third largest transit agency to make such data public and accessible using Google Transit, according to WBUR. Transit agencies in Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Portland, Ore., offer similar services.