NextBus GPS Tracking for Johns Hopkins Transportation

The NextBus service is now used to track:

• Blue Jay Shuttle


• Homewood-Peabody-JHMI shuttle (aka "JHMI shuttle")


• Keswick-Homewood-Eastern-JHMI shuttle


• Homewood-Mt. Washington shuttle

The NextBus website includes a map that shows real-time locations of shuttles overlaid on a street map.

To obtain an estimated arrival time, you can:

• Visit the NextBus website


• Call (410) 834-2833 and enter your stop number.


• Send a text to 41411 with "hopkins 123" where 123 is the stop number.

Stop numbers are posted at each stop and can also be looked up by Route/Direction/Stop on the NextBus website.

Johns Hopkins Blue Jay Shuttle

For the most current information on the Blue Jay Shuttle, including a map of the routes and list of the stops, visit the JHU Parking and Transportation webpage. At the time of this post, the only way to view individual route paths is through the NextBus interactive GPS map (click on "Select Routes...").

Here is a one page reference listing all the routes and stops with their NextBus numbers, as well as hints as to where each stop is found without a route map. (This is an unofficial document that I made, and there are no guarantees made as to the accuracy of the information.)

The JHU Gazette has also published an informative article on the new service, available online.



Hopkins has posted information on the new routes of the Blue Jay Shuttle (which replaces the old Security Escort Van service), effective August 24th. In summary:

• 5:45pm-11:15pm: There are 5 fixed routes (Red, Blue, Green, Orange, Pink/Purple) that depart every 30 minutes from Mason Hall with the first departure at 5:45pm and last departure at 10:45pm. Although the Gazette reported that there would be 10 vans running the routes, it currently (8/23) appears that each route will be run by only one van, each of which takes about 20-25 minutes to drive the full loop. One van alternates departures along the Pink (:15) and Purple (:45) routes, so each of those routes only has hourly service. Shuttles operate daily, excluding holidays. All shuttle stops will be marked with a sign. No schedule for specific stops is available at the time of this post.


• 11:15pm-2:00am: Call (410) 516-8700. All vans operate point-to-point service. An estimated pickup time will be provided.


• 2:00am-4:00am: The same service as from 11:15pm-2:00am, but fewer vans will operate.

Pro tips:

• To board anywhere other than Mason: flag van with a J-Card.


• To drop-off anywhere other than Mason: tell the driver when approaching the stop.


• Vans only stop at designated stops, except for emergencies or disabilities. According to the Gazette article, students can request a ride to Mason Hall or the nearest stop if they would need to walk more than a few blocks to their destination.

NextBus has also been deployed with the Blue Jay Shuttle. See my other post for details.

Updated 8/23/2011 9:48pm with information regarding Pink/Purple.