This app was mentioned in 12 comments, with an average of 4.00 upvotes
I've used BusRadar on my phone for years; it's super helpful and tracks where the buses for a certain route are on the map. It's very helpful and very accurate in my 5'ish years experience with it.
Also, Google Maps is useful if you've got some time to plan ahead.
Bus Radar is great for seeing the current locations of busses, bus routes, or what buses stop at a specific stop.
Much easier to use than Google Maps imo, but it's Android only.
There's a Madison BusRadar app through the Google Play store that will give you a lot of information-- Routes, stops, schedules, etc.
Not a bad place to start, and a very useful tool when busing.
I've still been WFH since covid started so I haven't taken the bus more than once or twice since then, but pre-COVID at least, the BusRadar app also works pretty well: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=busradar.madison&hl=en_US&gl=US
I think this pulls from the Metro site, but like CaptainTelcontar said, maybe they aren't the best about updating it. It's a great app otherwise.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=busradar.madison
Is this the app you're talking about? Some of the reviews say it hasn't been updated with the most recent routes. Just wanted to make sure - I'm moving to Madison in a week!
Android: BusRadar for Madison
Free, simple, and very accurate.
Not sure if you're bring serious or not, but that already exists.
If you're an Android user, this app is really great.
Buses here are decent. I use a combination of google maps and the Madison BusRadar Android app.
I tried setting google maps to a data in February and it didn't work. So here is the tedious alternative..
- Get either the bus radar app ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=busradar.madison&hl=en_US ) or the UW - Madison app ( https://mobile.wisc.edu/ )
This by itself will be useless. It does still tell you what the routes are but you won't be able to see the timings on there. But you can get the bus stop number and then go to the Madison metro website ( https://www.cityofmadison.com/metro/stops/stops-by-number?value=0000-0999 ) and look at the bus stop number's schedule.
For example, the bus stop at W Main and S Carroll (East Bound) is stop number 1101. If you look up that number on the metro website I linked and click on full schedule, you should see a pdf - https://www.cityofmadison.com/metro/documents/stops/1101.pdf
Hopefully that helps. You could also ask about your route on here if you're comfortable. Maybe some frequent bus riders might be able to give you an idea about the commute.
I think the first two are available. I can't actually find the official API, but this page says the data is publicly available, and several people have written unofficial middle-ware APIs with madison metro and parking data. There is a pretty decent 3rd party app utilizing the metro data. dosen't look like anyone has done anything with the parking data besides the city yet.