I don't think there's any chance that a shield will be generated either way.

IMO "BUS" in all caps is sufficiently differentiated from "Bus" to be allowed as an abbreviation, if it should ever be interpreted by TTS as such. All-caps is only ever used in Waze for abbreviations, never for words; TTS abbreviations are case-sensitive.


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dbraughlr wrote:I think that the disambiguator "business" is more important than the route number.
Where the choice is between US-1 and Business US-1, I want to hear the word "business" first.
Even if I hear nothing else or when the announcement is interrupted, I know to look for a business route.

Suppose a ramp is for "US-1 / US-1 BUS". Should this be read as "US-1 / Business US-1" or "US-1 / US-1 Business"?

I prefer the latter personally. There's a significant pause with every slash, so I'll hear "US-1" and "US-1 Business" as different things.

I wouldn't mind the former so much, if Business could be abbreviated to "BUS"; but as long as it's spelled out, "Business" is too long to be put before something so important as the route number. If I'm navigating without sound I'm probably glancing at the screen; the most important info should be put first so I can stop reading after "US-90 B" and get all I need to know.

Envisioning a situation where a route and its alternate aren't in the same instruction, which would be a much more common occurrence, the route number is more important than the modifier. If you're coming up to a junction with US-190 Business, SR-42, and SR-3003, the most important thing to know is which number to follow. The "190" is going to be a lot bigger on the shield than the word "BUSINESS", and it's also going to be the initial focal point. To put it another way, at the majority of junctions, looking for "190" is going to be far more relevant than looking for "business".

As for your primary purpose (Interstate business routes), I notice "BL" and "BS" were never tested. They may already work. In that case I'd be perfectly comfortable labeling "BL I-94" and "BS I-75".

For Interstates, as opposed to for US and State routes, I feel "business" is more important than the route number. While US-460 and US-460 Business could ostensibly have similar configurations, I-94 and BL I-94 certainly do not (BL and BS routes are never freeways, right?)

dbraughlr wrote:Another consideration is how it appears on the map in the app. Drivers do report "problems" with spelling and quotation marks. If it is true that "BUS" is deprecated for highway signs, and the names on the map match the highway signs, then one might conclude that "BUS" won't be used regardless of how workable it is as a solution.

That's understandable. I don't envision it happening in this case, I suppose because I figure anyone who'll be bothered to report something that nitpicky will be familiar with "BUS" as an abbreviation for a business route. Optimally we'd get a different shield for business routes, both US and Interstate, where it wouldn't matter so much.

dbraughlr wrote:Sorry, my example had a glaring omission.

Suppose a ramp is for "US-1 S / US-1 S BUS". Should this be read as "US-1 south / Business US-1 south", or "US-1 south / US-1 business south", or how?

Well, the directional has to go at the end of the road name; whether the road name is "Business US-1" or "US-1 Business", it all goes before the directional. For shields (if we ever get them) and "other direction" reports (if they ever work again), it's necessary to separate the road name entirely from the directional.

I still prefer "US-1 Business South", but for voice instructions I'm not married to either. But if we have to spell it out, I do have a problem with the way "Business US-1 S". To me, "US-1 Business S" is a lot easier to read.

It's worth noting that the accepted nomenclature is, e.g., "US-90 Business" and "I-94 Business Loop", but the generally-accepted abbreviated versions are, e.g., "BUS US-90" and "BL I-94" (although I've seen it the other way too).

According to the big spreadsheet, it says that Ct says Court but CT says C T.

It's possible the spreadsheet's outdated, though. It says that 'e' is pronounced E and 'E' is pronounced East, which isn't actually true. I have a Robert 'E' Lee Blvd which pronounces the 'E' as E.

More relevant, it also notes differences between La ("la", the note that's after "so") and LA ("L A", the letters), and Co ("koh") and CO ("C O").

So the possibility is there. If we're ever going to get our changes programmed into the TTS like we want (ha, fat chance), it's possible to get "BUS" but not "Bus" to be spoken as "Business".

CBenson wrote:Do we know how "Business S" is pronounced? "Pkwy S" is currently pronounced "Parkway Ess."

"Business W" is pronounced "Business West". I can't confirm "Business S" personally, but I believe the TTS problem is known only to exist with directionals after "Pkwy" and "Expy"/"Expwy".

To summarize, my views are as follows:

We should use 'Business' now; if we can get 'BUS' pronounced 'Business', we should use that instead.

So, "US-90 Business W"; unless 'BUS' == 'Business', then "US-90 BUS W".

davielde wrote: Unless there is a jam, I have a ramp on my daily commute where I can easily test different configurations. I'll test it with "US-12 BUS E" first.

"BUS" has already been tested; it says "bus".

My summary is meant to be relatively timeless. By the "unless" what I mean is "unless it is added in the future"; for now, I support "Business".

IME we've gotten Waze to change a TTS behavior exactly once before. We got a slash to give a pause. It took about a year to get that. Other than that, nada. So while I love the idea of making Waze make "BUS" (but not "Bus") say "business", I'm holding out about 0 hope for it.

Sure it's long, but it's not terrible. I absolutely do not recommend using any abbreviation that is not official in the MUTCD or at least according to the USPS (say, "Biz").

Nope. There is no listed acceptable abbreviation for "Business" in the MUTCD (2009 rev 2 (2012)). There aren't any on the list of unacceptable abbreviations, either, though.

MUTCD's guidance is basically "try not to abbreviate unless you need to save space on a sign; generally abbreviate street name suffixes (e.g., Blvd); generally don't use punctuation; never abbreviate north, south, east, west". It has 3 lists concerning abbreviations: one with "acceptable abbreviations", one with acceptable abbreviations for changeable-message signs, and a short list of "unacceptable abbreviations" (e.g., don't use FDR for Feeder cause someone might think it's "federal").

It's possible that "BUS" for "business" was "acceptable" in a previous version of the MUTCD. That's the only one I've personally seen (it's often spelled out).