How to check penang bus arrival time

Wed, 20 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT

In Penang, the buses are operated by Rapid Penang. Penang bus frequency is quite low. Take a look at Rapid Penang official schedule, you’ll see that in average 20-30 minutes frequency. That means if a bus just passes by your bus stop, you’ll have to wait 20-30 minutes for the next bus. In addition, the bus arrives at slightly different time every day. You can’t set the same time everyday for you to start going from home. More often you’ll miss the bus if you do that.

Here’s two ways to know when rapid penang bus arrive at bus stop:

Go to Penang Rider and click edit button. Select the bus number, the direction and the bus stop, and then click save. The website will show you the estimated time arrival for the selected bus at the chosen bus stop. As simple as that. You can bookmark the website, and open it anytime you’re going to ride bus.
Go to Rapid Penang Journey planner (JP). Beside Route Name type in the bus number, a dropdown will appear for you to choose. Click “Vehicle ETA” button, and it will show you a table showing all bus stops for the bus selected and the time arrival for each.

Both websites use the same bus data and arrival time. The arrival time is accurate, however make sure to arrive at the bus stop few minutes earlier.

Penang Rider is more mobile phone friendly. The page is designed to fit in mobile phone screen. It also feels easier to select for the bus in Penang Rider. Penang Rider can also be installed in the phone as mobile app. In my next blog I will show you step by step how to install as mobile app.

I hope you can use the websites above to make your journey with rapid penang bus more enjoyable. Thanks for reading!

Tips to go around Penang by bus

Wed, 06 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Here’s one thing about penang buses, you’ll find yourself waiting for bus for long time because of the low bus frequency. In Penang, the buses are operated by Rapid Penang. Take a look at Rapid Penang official schedule, you’ll see that in average 20-30 minutes frequency. That means if a bus just passes by your bus stop, you’ll have to wait 20-30 minutes for the next bus.

In addition, the bus arrives at different time every day. You can’t set the same time everyday for you to start going from home. More often you’ll miss the bus if you do that.

App like Moovit is useful to find out what bus route to take to reach your destination. It gives you few route options that you can take. Moovit also tells you the time of next bus to arrive at a bus stop, however the arrival time is not accurate and can be misleading. There are number of times when I waited cluelessly because I rely on Moovit arrival time. Maybe Moovit uses official schedule from Rapid Penang, which in reality the bus never on time. So take notice.

Based on information on Rapid Penang twitter, Rapid Penang is building a Journey planner app. Everyone will be able to use this app to know when the bus shall arrive in a bus stop they choose. At this moment the Journey planner website is live but not fully functional. Hopefully either the mobile app or the website will be working anytime soon.

I’ll post once Rapid Penang Journey Planner app is up and running.

Penang Rider Blog

How to check penang bus arrival time

Tips to go around Penang by bus