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- Thread starter waterloowarrior
- Start date
DavidH
Senior Member
The site's not new but it seems to have gotten a major facelift, including the use of prominent Metrolinx branding.
Right now it seems to have similar content as before but with the smart commute, cycling, etc content added to the purely transit content. They've also got links to transit maps from the community pages and the home page map, which is good.
I know Metrolinx is planning a common portal for transit information (maps, schedules, trip planner, etc), and it looks like this will eventually become that portal.
Right now it seems to have similar content as before but with the smart commute, cycling, etc content added to the purely transit content. They've also got links to transit maps from the community pages and the home page map, which is good.
I know Metrolinx is planning a common portal for transit information (maps, schedules, trip planner, etc), and it looks like this will eventually become that portal.
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RedRocket191
Senior Member
At Metronauts Hamilton I caught a glimpse of the regional transit map, which shows every route from every agency on a single document. It was massive and a classroom projection system wasn't enough to do it justice.
FutureMayor
Active Member
Hot Sauce.
Louroz
Louroz
TOareaFan
Superstar
Hope so....I didn't spend a lot of time on this but all it seems to be now is a page full of links to independant transit groups.....not overly useful in its current form unless you are accessing it from the only computer on the planet that cannot access google!
If it evolves to a situation where you can type in a starting address somewhere in the GTA and a desitination address somewhere else and it can provide you one or two trip routings telling you what transit systems to use, how to pay and where to transfer then it might have some utility (something like Brampton Transit's {there may be others but that is the one I am familiar with} "E-Ride" trip planner but encompassing the whole GTA.....
http://www.brampton.ca/transit/trip...wN2QzNTQtNGFmYS00ZWZhLWIxY2MtMmU2MDJiMjU0Y2Qz )
ShonTron
Moderator
Here's the best example of what one website for multiple transit agencies I could find:
http://511.org/ (Bay Area)
The trip planner is amazing. I tried, just for the fun of it, a trip from 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino to the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael. Gives you travel time, fare and very specific instructions. Also accepts spelling errors well.
http://511.org/ (Bay Area)
The trip planner is amazing. I tried, just for the fun of it, a trip from 1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino to the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael. Gives you travel time, fare and very specific instructions. Also accepts spelling errors well.
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DavidH
Senior Member
No, it's not that useful for anyone who would actually visit this forum, but we're not exactly average people in our level of knowledge.
But for less knowledgeable people, I think it has some value - if it's promoted enough that people know about it. I have been writing a blog on transit in Durham Region and find that a significant portion of visitors to my blog are actually trying and failing to find the DRT site via Google. It's not hugely valuable, granted, but it does look like it will become more.
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DavidH
Senior Member
Very cool, and the adoption of a common 511 number and site branding would be extremely useful.
TOareaFan
Superstar
That is exactly what I am getting at...thanks. When I say exactly I really do mean that.
I know the Bay area a wee bit......so, to test it out, I typed in a concert venue ampitheatre (didn't need the address just the name) that is a long way from the centre of Frisco (roughly half way to San Jose really) and a hotel I like in SF......
The output it gave me was very impressive....gave me 9 "trips" to choose from/compare......each trip had its own line showing:
- Cost of Trip
- Length of the trip
- Departure time
- Arrival time
- How much of the trip time is walking (this would be of concern to people with mobility issues
- A representation (in easily decipherable icons) of the modes of transit -so you can determine how many transfers and what type of transit is used
When you highlight a particular trip line, it then gives you complete and printable details of that trip....very impressive (I am assuming it is accurate!).
What makes this so frustrating is that this sort of system is available, the software is clearly out there, we are a multi-system region and we re-launch a site like findtheway.ca with nothing more than links to transit systems....of all the things that could have been achieved quickly and relatively cheaply this sort of transit-web-scheduling integration would have made sense and exhibited a real commitment to integration.(IMHO)
Thanks again for the link....it impressed and frustrated me all at once!
Disparishun
Active Member
I see this as Metrolinx's biggest failure. A standard-setting agency that promulgates a common format for transit data, enabling the development of tools built on top of that common format, is badly needed. Metrolinx could have been that agency. It still can.
TOareaFan
Superstar
Totally agree....all of the other things that they are trying to do will take time, effort, convincing and money.....I think we all get this.
Providing an instant improvement in the linkage of the various transit systems through a web service like this would have been something that is within their reach now and could show real, tagible, evidence that seamlessly linked transit across the GTA is possible....even probable.
Your words "biggest failure" are spot on!!!