How-to guide:
Getting Bus Tracker arrivals by text
CTA Bus Tracker can give you estimated arrival times by text message (works on most mobile phones*).
This new service is a "public beta." That means that everyone's welcome to try it, but we want your feedback to help us make it better. Also note that at about 40 stops, we'll soon be piloting updated CTA Bus Stop signs that include instructions on how to text!
Let us know what you think at feedback@transitchicago.com!
The Basics
It's easy as 1-2-3:
- Find your stop ID. (How do I find my stop ID?)
- Text ctabus [stopID] to 41411
Be sure to text the word "ctabus", a space, and then the
actual stop ID number, such as "ctabus 14624" (without quotes).
- Receive estimated arrival times.
*Important note: Standard carrier charges for text messaging may apply. Check with your mobile carrier first.
Example
Here's how the text message you send might look if you were going to catch a #53 Pulaski bus at Fullerton heading south (which stops at stop ID 14624).
Try it!
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Send "ctabus 14624" (without the quotes) to 41411, like this:
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After your message is received, you'll get a message like this:
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This example response says that, as of 5:07 PM, at stop 14624 (at Pulaski & Fullerton), Bus Tracker estimates that a #53 bus to 31st is due to arrive, and then another one should arrive in about 11 minutes.
Additional Commands
Also, you can also reply to this message with "S" to get any service bulletins that may affect your trip (customer alerts), or "R" to get the latest, most updated result for the same stop.
If your stop has multiple routes serving it, your results may not fit in one text message. In that case, you can also reply with "N" to see the next result for the stop you requested.
(Remember: Standard carrier charges for text messaging may apply. Check with your mobile carrier first.)
Narrowing your results
To get just the routes you're interested (and potentially reduce the number of texts you need to send or receive to get the information you want), you can also specify a route number in your request. Add "rt[#]" (with the route number instead of the number sign) to your request.
Example:
ctabus 1124 rt145
Instead of getting all results for buses predicted to arrive at stop 1124 (Michigan & Ontario), you'll only get results for #145 Wilson/Michigan Express buses.
See also...