FreeB Bus tracking screen at Princeton Library. (click to expand)

If you have been in Princeton Public Library recently, you may have noticed something new on the screen in the lobby. The town has placed GPS tracking technology in the ‘FreeB’ shuttle, which runs around the town offering free transit for local residents. Library visitors can check the screen to see where exactly the bus is, and when it is due to arrive at the library. But there’s more. FreeB riders, or people who are interested in riding the FreeB, can also see where the bus is and get real-time arrival information using any computer or smart phone. This new information should make it much easier to use the FreeB service, and help make sure that nobody misses the bus again.

The website to check where the FreeB bus is can also be accessed from any computer using this link. (Real-time arrival information is only available when the bus is running, between 5.45 a.m. and 8.30 p.m.) Note that this is not the same as a bus schedule. It actually tells you where the bus is at any given moment. That means if the bus is stuck in traffic, it will give you accurate information about when the bus actually will arrive, not when it is ‘supposed’ to arrive. This is made possible by a grant from the Princeton Transit Trust Fund, a partnership between Princeton University and the town, which provided funds to place a tracker in the FreeB shuttle buses. That means the buses are tracked in real-time by satellites using the GPS system.

The website is likely to be useful for people like my neighbor, who I spoke to at the library. She said she would like to use the FreeB bus, but never knew when it was running or where it was going. People on the go can also access FreeB bus tracking by downloading a smartphone ‘app’, using the following links:

For Apple iPhone, use this link: Apple devices

For Android phones, use this link: Android devices

This website and the smartphone apps are also good for tracking Princeton University’s “Tiger Transit” shuttle buses, which are freely available to local residents. Real-time information for NJ Transit buses, including the 605 and 606 buses which currently serve Princeton is available at a different website here.