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Dead Horse Times: Things that should be automated

Screenshot of iNap.

From EngineerScotty comes an idea for do-it-yourself automated stop announcements (ASA).  As a passenger, I find automated stop announcements quite helpful, as they are most often clearer, louder, and more consistently called than operator announcements.  Bus and train operators also appreciate ASA.  It is understandably difficult for them to pay attention to driving, traffic, and passengers and remember to call out regular announcements.

Even when there are automated announcements, I often use my iPhone to follow along a planned route to see where I need to pull the cord and get off the bus if I am unfamiliar with a city or transit route.  iNap is one application that develops this functionality.  It allows the user to set an alarm to be notified when their stop is near.

Since not every vehicle has ASA, EngineerScott ponders a hypothetical mobile application to call out the names of stops.  Drivers would plug their mobile device into the vehicle’s audio system.  I doubt there’s a sufficient market for this, however.  It would certainly present an interesting situation for agencies, with operators taking technology implementation into their own hands.

Read the full post, “Things that should be automated,” on the Dead Horse Times.

“Helping rural residents use Google Transit”

Sue Crowe, the project lead for the Trillium-completed Northern California Google Transit Feasibility Study and Pilot Project, guest authored an article for the Reconnecting America blog, “Helping Rural Residents Use Google Transit”.

Transit trip planning in the rural areas of Northern California has become easier for many user groups as a result of the pilot implementation.  From Sue’s post:

“Trinity County has many recreational destinations,” a representative explained.  “Northern California visitors are now able to plan trips across this portion of California using multiple transit providers with ease.  This type of travel planning was once difficult, but is now simplified with Google Maps/Transit.”

Google Transit doesn’t just benefit the transit customer.  Social service agencies, caregivers, and those providing aid to someone can now Google transit information for their clients.  For the elderly who can no longer drive, Google transit information for bus stops and locations helps make it possible to  maintain a sense of independence.

The Northern California Google Transit Feasibility Study and Pilot Project was a finalist for the 2010 California Transportation Foundation Tranny Awards.

Filling the gaps over the mountains and through the woods

I haven’t posted to the blog much recently because Trillium has been so busy preparing GTFS and adding agencies to Google Transit.  Recently, we’ve been part of filling many more of the gaps in Google Transit transit trip planner for the Pacific northwest.

Here are some examples of the longer intercity itineraries that can now be planned on Google Transit:

LAX to Big Bear, California, across L.A. Metro, Metrolink, and Mountain Area Regional Transit Authority (MARTA). MARTA is a Trillium client.

Corning, CA to Sunsanville, CA via Tehama Rural Area Express (TRAX) and Susanville Indian Rancheria Public Transportation Program. Both are Trillium clients.

Clatsop County, OR to Salem, OR via Sunset Empire Transportation District, Tillamook County Transportation District (TCTD), TriMet, and South Metro Area Regional Transit (SMART). TCTD and SMART are Trillium clients.

Crescent City, CA to Cottonwood CA via Redwood Coast Transit (RCT), Redwood Transit System (RTS), Trinity Transit, and Redding Area Bus Authority (RABA). All agencies are Trillium clients.

Biking directions added to Google Maps

Google added biking directions to maps.google.com on Wednesday.  The route planner considers bicycle facilities, topography, intersection quality, and traffic to plan directions.  Detailed bicycle infrastructure information (bike lanes, boulevards, etc.) is available for about 150 cities in the U.S.  I am already finding the feature enjoyable and useful for navigating Portland’s streets on my bike.

This will be tremendous for making biking infrastructure more visible.  Maps and online information are an important, and often overlooked component of the transportation system.

I’ve already received one phone call from a client asking how they can integrate their region’s bike lane data in Google Maps.  Google’s public announcements don’t offer a lot right now.  Near as I can read their answer is to say “stay tuned.”  Maybe a U.S. version of Map Maker will allow more data to be included down the line.

Here’s a screenshot of my bike route to work.

Around the web:

• Official Google Blog: Biking directions added to Google Maps
• Google LatLon: It’s time to bike
• Google Maps Bike There: Google Bike Directions are Now Live!

Simplifying the Open Transit Debate: White Paper

Mentor Engineering released a white paper “Simplifying the Open Transit Debate.”  For the curious, you can download a PDF, or read an HTML version.

The paper summarizes many of the benefits of open data — time saved, agency image benefits, improved customer service, ridership increase, and free application development.

It misses some important points though.  One is that open data facilitates greater and more successful innovation because it provides opportunity for low-cost (or free) failure.  Think of it this way: more developers = more projects/experiments/innovation = competition between them = successes and failures.  This idea is further developed in Thoughts on ‘Here Comes Everybody: The Power of organizing without organizations’.

Also, I wish the paper provided a more thorough and direct discussion of what they offer as an often cited disadvantage of open data:

The only negative some agencies see in providing their data to the public is the elimination of potential revenue from selling the data to developers. However, because the data is generated by taxpayer-funded agencies, the general consensus is that agencies should not profit from this data. Agencies that kept their data closed in hopes of selling it, such as New York City’s MTA—who recently released their data—have experienced extensive backlash from both the developer community and transit passengers.

Are there agencies that profit from selling their data?  I think a few may generate revenue from advertising on their websites.  However, this revenue is usually insignificant, and should be weighed against the benefits of open data.  3rd party applications and information sources may lead a few eyeballs away from the agency website and compromise ad revenue, but they are likely to support ridership and fare revenue growth.

Oh, and I was pleased an interview I conducted with TriMet’s CTO and IT Manager for GIS and Location Based Services was cited in a few places in the paper.

SF Streestblog nerds out on open transit data

Excuse the late post, but in case you missed it, SF Streetsblog ran a pice on “How Google and Portland’s TriMet Set the Standard for Open Transit Data” in early January.

They interview some key players who give a window into the evolving practice of opening transit data.  Check it out if you haven’t already.

One guide for many agencies and many modes

Today, Trillium Solutions finished creating the Humboldt County Transportation Guide [Download PDF].  It’s headed for the printer and bound for buses, transit centers, businesses, and social services locations next week.

Before this guide, printed schedule information and maps for each agency were available separately.  That made it more difficult for passengers to plan inter-agency trips.  It also meant that passengers weren’t always aware of all the services available.  Imagine, if you will, if you had to consult a different map or road atlas for roads maintained by each city, county, and the State DOT-maintained highways — in short, use a different information source according to the agency responsible for maintaining the roads you are driving on. Probably, if this was reality, driving would not be nearly as popular as it is today!  Or, imagine if you had to go to every individual airline’s website to search for available flights and their prices instead of using Travelocity.com or something similar.

The twenty-eight page guide includes timetables for five fixed-route transit services in the Humboldt Bay Area.  The overview map also shows connecting regional services, including the local transportation service in adjacent counties, and Greyhound and Amtrak service.  Multiple agenies’ services are shown in many of the detail maps that highlight particular cities.

In addition, the service guide responds to findings from the Humboldt County Coordinated Human Services Transportation — Public Transit Plan by showing flexible and on-demand human services transportation services in the same guide.  Below is an overview map.  It is accompanied by tables of transportation services that show eligibility requirements, service area and hours, accessibility features, contact, and other pertinent information for each service.

OpenTripPlanner project

TriMet, The Open Planning Project, and developers of FivePoints, OneBusAway, Graphserver, and byCycle are working on an ambitious open-source multi-modal trip planner (the project name is OpenTripPlanner).

When finished, the multi-modal trip planner software will plan journeys by a combination of biking, walking, and transit in the areas where it has been implemented.  For regions that wish to implement the trip planner, they will need to use in-house resources or hire a firm to install, host, and manage the software.  Information on transit service, walking routes, and biking routes in the necessary formats will be one of the most important prerequisites for implementing the open-source multi-modal trip planner.

Check out the OpenTripPlanner site or join the developer discussion list to learn more and follow along with the effort.

Trillium clients launch on Google Transit

In the last eight weeks or so, several Trillium clients have launched on Google Transit.

• Redding Area Bus Authority (RABA) was a stakeholder in the Northeastern California Google Transit Feasibility Study.  Redding is a micro-urban city in Northern California on the inland Interstate 5 corridor.  Redding is a regional transportation hub, with neighboring transit services (Plumas, Modoc Sage Stage, and Trinity Transit) and intercity services (Greyhound, Amtrak) offering service.  [Example RABA trip]
• Trinity Transit was also a stakeholder in the Northeastern California Google Transit Feasibility Study. They are a rural system with some inter-city service.  [Example trip… note only works on Mondays and Tuesdays, you may have to adjust the date.]
• Siskiyou Transit and General Express (STAGE) was also a stakeholder in the Northeastern California Google Transit Feasibility Study. They are a rural, mainly inter-city transit service.
• Columbia Area Transit (CAT) operates intercity services between Hood River, The Dalles, and Portland, Oregon.  [Example trip.  Note the challenge to return Hood River to Portland service, which is only once per week.]
• Clemson Area Transit (CAT). The first agency in South Carolina to be live on Google Transit.
• Fairfield and Suisin Transit.  This agency connects with a lot of others (BART, Sacramento RT, Amtrak Capitol Corridor, Rio Vista Delta Breeze) that are live on Google Transit, which provides additional value for all.

As you can see, a busy season.  There are more to come soon.  Note that most of these agencies have chosen to make their data available at gtfs-data-exchange.com and the PublicFeeds page for developers to access it and build applications that help people use transportation services.

Google Maps feature watch: nearby transit stops in search results

Check it out… now, when you search for a location at google.com, if the location is found in Google Maps, and transit data is available for nearby service (read: on Google Transit and publishing Google Transit Feed Spec data), the search results also return the nearest transit stop.  It’s harder to imagine a more subtle but promisingly effective way of marketing transit.

Via the Official Google Blog: “This week in search 12/11/2009.”