SIS - Instructions

How To Use the ShepherdIS Infrastructure

-- Using the Website: --

The core functionality of the website is accessed from the Main View. If you have selected a stop, this view will give you details on when the closest buses will arrive at the stop for each route through the stop. Note that these are predictions, and may not reflect what actually happens. However, they are generally an extremely good indicator.

-- Trip Planner --

If you are unsure what routes are currently running, or how to use your local bus systems to get from point A to point B, use our trip planner. This planner takes the real-time locations and activity of all current buses, and tells you exactly what routes you should take to get from where you are to where you want to go. Just double click to add a marker for your start point on the map, and once again for your endpoint, and the route will be calculated. Please note that because this calculation is very processor intensive, your route will only be recalculated once every 45 seconds unless you explicitly tell the planner to recalculate by dragging the markers yourself.

-- Mobile Site --

Additionally, if you have a smartphone, visiting shepherdis.com will take you to our mobile site. We support all web-enabled phones. From the mobile site you can view our arrival predictions for all stops, sorted by route. Additionally, if you click on "view closest stops", you will be taken to a page that shows your the stop arrival information for the closest stops to your current location. Please note that this feature will access your phone's internal GPS unit, so please give permission if you would like this functionality.

-- Text Messaging --

Finally, if you would like to receive the time of arrival to your phone in text-message format, text your bus system keyword and stopname to 41411 (e.g. "umbus union" to get arrival times for the University of Michigan Union Bus Stop). If you get stuck, text your keyword with NO stop name to get a help menu (e.g. "umbus") Try it out below!

Shepherd Third Party Software...

At Shepherd Intelligent Systems, we aim to provide our public transportation data as publicly as possible, so if you have an idea for an app/widget/website/anything else you can think of, and you want to use our real-time data, route information, and predictions -- feel free. We will answer any questions you may have, and assist you in any way possible. Leave a message with questions on the forum or send us an email for now (a formal dev page is in the works), and we will get back to you.