Get a DIY Sign for Your Business

A DIY or "Do It Yourself" sign is a web-based display with bus arrival information that businesses display to customers and riders for any stops along an MTA Bus Time route. 

Creating a new DIY sign is easy: refer to the DIY Sign Configuration page for how to create a custom URL for your sign, then display the URL on any web-enabled computer. For best results, we recommend using a computer attached to a large display such as a TV or 19" or larger computer monitor. Pointing the display out the window allows patrons waiting at the stop to see arrival information.

Create A "Do It Yourself" Bus Time Arrival Sign

The DIY Sign Configuration page explains how to set up a special interface to MTA Bus Time modeled after the DIY BusTracker provided by the Chicago Transit Authority. It will provide a simple web page suitable for display in any public location using standard computer hardware and any kind of internet connection.

Once set up, the DIY MTA Bus Time Arrival Sign interface will:

• Display real-time bus arrival information in large text sizes for the configured stop (or stops) currently supported by Bus Time.
• Display up to three pending arrivals for each stop.
• Automatically refresh every several seconds.
• Work on computer displays of any size, from iPad to a laptop screen or desktop monitor to a large format LCD TV.

Our hope is that local business along the routes will set up these displays for the benefit of their customers and the riders. Watch this video to see how this is already working for business owners and riders (or see this video to see how the same approach works in Chicago - skip to 1:45 in the video to see the positive reactions of business owners there).

Need Help Setting Up?

See this page for instructions on creating the URL, hardware suggestions and tips and tricks.

Let us know if you set up a sign.

 Send us a picture, tell us what you think about it, and we will list your business here as somewhere that bus riders can shop, drink, eat, read, or relax while waiting for the bus.