The Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District has announced the addition of BusTracker. The free smartphone application is available in the Apple App Store for Apple devices and the Google Play Store for Android devices. It features a trip planner, the ability to locate nearby bus stops and routes, track current bus locations on a map, set up notifications, and bookmark favorite bus stops.
In addition to smartphone and web access, individuals can receive information on bus arrival times via SMS text. To use this feature, users send a text with SBMTD and their stop number to 41411, and they will receive a text back with times for the next buses arriving at that bus stop. Bus stop numbers can be found in the MTD Schedule Guide on pages 17 through 26. Over the next few weeks, individual signs will be installed at bus stops with information on how to use the texting system. For example, by texting “SBMTD 1” to 41411, the user will receive real-time information on the next buses coming to Bus Stop number one, located at Modoc and Portesuello on Santa Barbara’s Westside.
