This is part of a website designed to catalog all the bus stops for the MAX bus in Birmingham, AL. Once we have cataloged all the bus stops, we will be submitting this data to Google Transit. You can find our main site with additional information here. This site utilizes Google street view to capture images of bus stops with the latitude and longitude coordinates embedded. With each stop that is cataloged, we come closer to getting the BJCTA Max bus system available on Google Transit.

After you close this information window you will see a list of routes down the left hand side along with a map and street view image. If you select a route, you will see its path on the map. You can then drag the orange peg man onto the route. The top window will show a stree view image of the current location. Move the peg man along the route. Each time you see a Max bus stop (typically just a blue sign post), click the "Capture Image" button. You will see a blue marker appear on the map, and the image count will increase. It works best if you pick a single route and follow it from start to finish in order. Routes are split between Outbound and Inbound and it is easiest for us to keep track of the routes if you do them separately. Please try to submit only entire segments, i.e. an entire outbound or an entire inbound route.

An Outbound route means it starts at Central Station (Morris and 18th St N in downtown). An Inbound route starts out and finishes at Central Station. There are a few circulator routes which run in loops and do not go to Central Station. These won't have an inbound or outbound.

You may notice some routes are crossed out. These routes have already been completed. Please only work on routes that are not yet completed.

Do your best to center the blue stop post. Google street view quality is not very good, so you are unlikely to get a clear picture of the stop. That is okay, as the most important part is the location. You can zoom in an out to get a better picture. Please always try to get a picture head on and in the direction of the route if possible. We know some stops are very difficult to see, so do your best!

Be sure not to reload the page or leave the page until you have submitted stops. Reloading the page will clear out all the stops you have worked on without submitting them, which means you will have to do it again. If you must stop before finishing, please go ahead and submit the list and note that it is incomplete.

Once you have finished either an entire outbound or inbound route, click the "Submit Image List" button. This will bring up a dialog with some additional data. The name you fill in will be listed in our Uploaders list. A valid email will help us if we have any questions or issues with the stops you submitted. We will NOT ever share your email or spam you. In the description field, please specify which route your are submitting and whether or not it was inbound or outbound. If you did not complete the entire route, please specify it as incomplete and if possible where you started and stopped.

After you have submitted your stops, our team will review the stops and then approve it. Once it has been approved, you will see the stops both on this site and our main site at http://bjcta.line72.net

Unfortunately, Google street view is not available everywhere in Birmingham. A lot of the neighborhoods, especially on the west side don't have street view data. You can see what streets have data by picking up the orange peg man and holding him above the map. The streets that have street view data will turn blue. If you are following a route and come across a section that does not have street view, pick up the orange peg man and skip over that section. During your submission, if you can make a note that it has missing sections, that will let us know we'll need to physically send someone out to that area to catalog those stops.

A lot of routes cross each other. If you notice there is already a marker along your route, you can click on the marker to see the picture. If it is a good picture and the marker is in the correct position, feel free to skip over that stop. However, if the marker has a poor picture or the location of the marker is incorrect, then please capture the stop. Duplicate data is much better than missing data, and duplicate data gives us some extra validation.

There are three ways to navigate the streetview:

1. Drag the orange peg man and place it on the map. This will update the street view. You can then click and drag the mouse in the street view to look around.
2. In the street view, you can also click on the arrows. This will move you forward, backward, or turn right or left.
3. It is also possible to use the keyboard to navigate, which is my preferred method. Click inside the street view, then use the arrow keys to move forward and backward. Left and right arrows will spin your view. Note that if you click outside the street view, like on the capture image button, you will need to click back into the street view to give it focus before the keyboard arrows will work again.

Routes that have been crossed out have already been completed. You can still click on them to see their paths, but please do not submit already completed routes.

This website has been tested under recent versions of Firefox, Safari, and Google Chrome.

This is all being done by me, Marcus Dillavou. I am not associated with the BJCTA, but as a public transportation advocate and bus rider, I want to use my skills to help improve our city. I am volunteering and doing this on my own time.

I have contacted the BJCTA many times, but have never been able to get any real feedback. During this time the BJCTA has already gone through several leadership changes. If you know anyone in the BJCTA that would be supportive or willing to help out, please contact me.