NextRide & Google Maps: How Well Does RTD’s Real-Time Arrival Info Work for You?

Streetsblog wants to know: When you open up Google Maps, RTD’s NextRide, or any of the other apps that provide real-time bus and train arrival information, how well does it work? Have you missed a bus or train that didn’t show up on time – or at all?

Rebekah Ditzenberger arrived late for a job interview last week because her bus left earlier than Google Maps said it would.

“I was 30 minutes late to my interview a couple of days ago. It came four minutes early and the app didn’t even update me,” she said this morning at the light rail platform at Union Station. “I came late to my interview. I don’t know if they docked me out for it.”

But there have been no problems with RTD’s NextRide site or the information feed the agency provides to other apps since the system went dark after a server crashed during the Oct. 29 snowstorm, according to Lisa Trujillo, a spokesperson for the agency.

“There did not appear to be issues with NextRide or any of the other apps,” she said via email this afternoon. “NextRide does not go down very often. It only happens a few times a year, with the snowstorm from two weeks ago being the first that happened in quite some time.”

But after the 29th, people have reported problems with NextRide about half a dozen times on Twitter.

What’s your experience with RTD’s real-time arrival information? Share via the comments section of this story, on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit or by emailing andy@streetsblog.org.