Where's the Loop?

SMS (41411)

You can access The Loop prediction via a cell phone or a PDA by sending a text message. The arrival predictions for The Loop will then be texted back to you. You can even have the system alert you when your bus is a specified number of minutes away.

Please note: some cell phone service plans charge you for each text message.

What to do:

The 5-digit text message address is 41411. The syntax of the message is "nbus loop". The keyword "nbus" specifies that you want information from NextBus, "loop" means you want The Loop

What is the "Subscribed to" message?

When you send your first message to the NextBus system you will receive a reply indicating that you have subscribed to the system. This only means that you have subscribed to the possibility of the using the alert feature described below. The NextBus system will never send you other messages besides the arrival prediction information you have specifically requested.

Specifying a stop:

There are 3 ways to specify your stop.

1. Via Menus
If you do not specify a stop (you simply specify a message such as "nbus emery") then you will be presented with a list of routes. You then specify which route you are interested in. You will then be presented with a list of directions and then a list of stops to select from. Once you have selected your stop, the corresponding predictions for that stop will be displayed. Note: this menu based way of selecting a stop is only intended for smaller agencies. For larger agencies there are most likely too many routes and stops to choose from easily, considering that SMS messages are limited to a small number of characters. For larger agencies we recommend that you specify a stop number or an address.

2. Specifying 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.

#. Using a saved stop:
Once you have selected a stop using one of the above methods, you can save the stop by replying with the command "s stopName", where "stopName" is the name of the stop you want to save. So for example you can specify "s NV" to store a stop called "North Village". Then you can easily obtain predicted arrival times for the stop by texting the stop name. For example, if you stored the stop called "NV", then you can easily access predictions for that stop simply by texting to 41411 "nbus NV".

Setting up an alert for when bus is specified number of minutes away:

An incredibly useful feature of the NextBus SMS system is that it can automatically send you an alert when your bus is a specified number of minutes away. This way you don't have to continually monitor the NextBus system to determine when it is time to catch your bus. To use this feature first select a stop using one of the three methods described above. Once you have selected a stop and predictions are displayed you can simply reply to the prediction message with the number of minutes of notice you want before your bus is going to arrive. You can specify an alert time of betwee 0 and 30 minutes. So for example you can first select a stop by sending to 41411 the message "nbus loop 2 ". Then reply with "5" to be alerted when your bus is 5 minutes away.

Useful commands

You can specify single letter commands.

* "h" or "?" for help
* "r" for refresh (updates the predictions)
* "p" for looking at the previous prediction when there are multiple stops, directions, or routes
* "n" for looking at the next prediction when there are multiple stops, directions, or routes
* "s stopName" for saving a stop for easy retrieval
* "1"-"30" for sending an alert when bus is the specified number of minutes away

Why the terse abreviations?

SMS is limited to just a few characters per message. Therefore the system uses abreviated names to tell you the names of routes, directions, and stops.

This infromation was provided by www.nextbus.com. NextBus is the contracted service provider for this service.