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A comment on Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend. Parent comment

Re:Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend by Finnucane on Monday October 03, 2016 @08:08AM (#12626771)
But, adding the wireless connections and the servers and the technical staff to code and maintain, would save the driver the labor of pressing the button. That's what technology is for.
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Re:Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend by Jaruzel on Monday October 03, 2016 @08:17AM (#12626808)
KISS applies here. By keeping the 'driver presses a button' interaction, the complexity is reduced by at least a factor of 5, and the TCO ends up being much less.

Sometimes, a doorbell just needs to be a doorbell.

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Re:Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend by noxToken on Monday October 03, 2016 @08:53AM (#12627062)
I am so glad you said this. With the boom of the tech industry, it feels like a lot of stuff is getting over engineered these days. Instead of products that focus on something that does it really well, it does its job mostly alright with half-broken bells and whistles.
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Re:Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend by grogenaut on Monday October 03, 2016 @08:23AM (#12626844)
Sure but if I add all the above complications then I get automated bus tracking system where everyone on their phone can see where the bus is and when it's arriving, I can track and automatically detect issues with traffic, with the bus, with the driver.

Sure you can do the simple announce but the even easier one is to just have the driver talk over a mic, he needs one anyway. There I one upp'd you on KISS. But there is a reason not to KISS.

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Re:Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend by danarmak on Monday October 03, 2016 @08:48AM (#12627028)
You can publish wireless / Internet data on where the bus is, but keep the driver pressing buttons as the source of the data.
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Re:Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend by vidarh on Monday October 03, 2016 @01:21PM (#12629375)
How often do you want the driver to press buttons? And how do you mark the intermediate positions in between bus stops? Because on any remotely complicated high congestion route, you will not get reasonable estimates if you only update at bus stops.
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Re:Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend by wongarsu on Monday October 03, 2016 @08:49AM (#12627041)
That's how it works in our (German) city. It works great.
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Re:Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend by iaml on Monday October 03, 2016 @08:24AM (#12626851)
I think you missed the implied /s
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Re:Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend by coldpie on Monday October 03, 2016 @08:25AM (#12626856)
I think the GP was being sarcastic ;)
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Re:Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend by employee8000 on Monday October 03, 2016 @09:31AM (#12627286)
Except asking a bus driver to keep track of button pushing is distracting and could endanger the lives of the passengers or people outside. The stop needs to be announced 30-60 seconds before they arrive at the stop so then is driver is still actively driving. This is something the drivers union would be all over, it's not as straightforward as you assume.
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Re:Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend by icebraining on Monday October 03, 2016 @09:53AM (#12627412)
The stop needs to be announced 30-60 seconds before they arrive at the stop

Why? You can announce the next stop a few seconds after departing from the current stop, and then again at the opening of the doors.

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Re:Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend by mantas on Monday October 03, 2016 @10:52AM (#12627793)
If there's a long gap between the stops, people may forget what's the next stop. Announcing at the opening may be too late or the stop has to be long enough. Even for slow passengers in a crowded bus. Announcing a minute before the stop is a good heads-up that bus is approaching the stop and people should prepare.
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Re:Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend by icebraining on Monday October 03, 2016 @11:13AM (#12627970)
Then make the delay for the announcement of the next stop adjustable, configured according to the timetable.
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Re:Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend by PunchTornado on Monday October 03, 2016 @08:40AM (#12626976)
but the driver forgets to press the button and then people are affected. ah, was that my stop, why wasn't it announced?
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Re:Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend by wongarsu on Monday October 03, 2016 @08:51AM (#12627053)
That's why bus drivers get training. And if they don't perform as expected, it's not that hard to hire a better one.
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Re:Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend by engineer819 on Monday October 03, 2016 @08:31AM (#12626908)
A skilled engineer weighs the costs and benefits of a system before architecting it.

Is it more economical to pay for constant cellular connectivity across 1,000 buses, support IT staff for when the system fails or needs upgrades, etc. or to have the guy you're already paying $15/hr press a button after each stop?

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Re:Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend by makomk on Monday October 03, 2016 @03:21PM (#12630477)
At least on most UK buses, the driver already needs to tell the computer where on the route the bus is so that it can issue the correct tickets to customers. This has been the case for decades.
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Re:Why's that company so big? I could do that in a weekend by hawski on Monday October 03, 2016 @08:16AM (#12626799)
It could just use the open the doors button with some hysteresis for opening/closing doors few times in a row in some short time.
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