MBTA “Next Bus” Info at Ice Cream Store

Part of what’s helping the fledgling Mass Bay Transit Authority (MBTA, aka “T”) here in Boston open up more data to the public is what’s been done with the five sample routes for which it now offers up expected arrival times. The coolest, in oh so many ways: a red LED sign at JP Licks (in Jamaica Plain, hence the initials) that scrolls through the times of the next two busses expected on route 39.

The sign was built not by the MBTA, but by a 42-year-old software engineer and entrepreneur who lives around the corner and wanted a better way to catch the bus. With $350 in materials and an afternoon’s work, Benjamin Resner accomplished what the T has been talking about doing for years.

A bonus for him: access to the very famous (here in Boston) ice cream place’s management, which he and his two kids enjoy.

- Boston Globe via @sarahebourne, my link into Mass open/accessibility issues and who is totally worth following if you are in MA