Looking forward to speaking on favorite topics — Google Transit and transit information — in Monterey

On Thursday, November 6, I’ll be speaking on two panels at the first joint California Transit Association and California Association for Coordinated Transportation conference in Monterey.

The first panel I’ll be on is “Making Connections with Google Transit.”  I’ll be outlining approaches for smaller, mid-sized and rural agencies, and steps to get the most out of a Google Transit launch for ridership gains.

Also on the panel will be Mike Wiley, the General Manager/CEO of Sacramento RT, which has done a fantastic job of not only publishing their schedule information, but helping transit providers they connect with do the same.  Gregg Albright, the Deputy Director for Planning and Modal Programs at Caltrans will join us.  Caltrans says they are excited about Google Transit, and I am looking forward to their participation in our conversation.  Finally, Jessica Wei, of Google, will be with us.  Should be a good one!

The second panel of the day is “New Media for New Markets.”  One of the themes I’ll be bringing up is sharing data electronically to be used in various forms of mobile, digital, and “old” media, using TriMet and BART as examples.  And I’ll show how pervasive “new media” enables new partnership opportunities (see posts on community-based marketing and transit for events).

Janes Allison from BART will talk about their adventures with BARTtv and twitter, among other topics.  And Steve Radick will address “Bringing social media to your organization.”

Should be an interesting conversation.  I’m looking forward to the conference after thouroughly enjoying the CalACT Fall conference in 2007.  You can register here.  There’s a chance I may be in the Bay Area for a few days after the conference, so feel free to drop a line.

-Aaron Antrim