Comments on: Customer information: not a side dish but part of the main course http://www.trilliumtransit.com/blog/2009/04/07/customer-information-not-a-side-dish-but-part-of-the-main-course/ Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:44:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Fred H. http://www.trilliumtransit.com/blog/2009/04/07/customer-information-not-a-side-dish-but-part-of-the-main-course/comment-page-1/#comment-6497 Fred H. Thu, 25 Aug 2011 03:35:02 +0000 http://www.trilliumtransit.com/blog/?p=189#comment-6497 I'm an avid transit user. In fact, I'm a Transit Tourist and look forward to using new transit systems whenever I travel. Boarding point transit information seems universally awful. I found this blog in a web search to try to find solutions for boarding point information dissemination. There really doesn't seem to be anyone doing it well. What I like to see at a stop are maps of routes that serve the stop and times the bus is expected. Sometimes even frequency information is helpful. System operators like passengers to have their fare in hand when boarding - how about a sign saying what that fare is? Phone apps showing bus locations are sexy but basically unnecessary unless your system is consistently & wildly off schedule. The benefit might be that Smartphone users might try the bus because they paid for a bunch of app capacity and need to justfy their phone bills! I've boarded transit more than 2,000 times in the last couple of years and I have yet to have a fellow passenger at the stop announce "My phone says the bus is three minutes late!" I'd frankly prefer simple printed schedules posted at stops and technology put to work so transfers between routes don't result in extra half hour long bus stop waits. I’m an avid transit user. In fact, I’m a Transit Tourist and look forward to using new transit systems whenever I travel. Boarding point transit information seems universally awful. I found this blog in a web search to try to find solutions for boarding point information dissemination. There really doesn’t seem to be anyone doing it well. What I like to see at a stop are maps of routes that serve the stop and times the bus is expected. Sometimes even frequency information is helpful. System operators like passengers to have their fare in hand when boarding – how about a sign saying what that fare is?

Phone apps showing bus locations are sexy but basically unnecessary unless your system is consistently & wildly off schedule. The benefit might be that Smartphone users might try the bus because they paid for a bunch of app capacity and need to justfy their phone bills! I’ve boarded transit more than 2,000 times in the last couple of years and I have yet to have a fellow passenger at the stop announce “My phone says the bus is three minutes late!”

I’d frankly prefer simple printed schedules posted at stops and technology put to work so transfers between routes don’t result in extra half hour long bus stop waits.

]]> By: Tony http://www.trilliumtransit.com/blog/2009/04/07/customer-information-not-a-side-dish-but-part-of-the-main-course/comment-page-1/#comment-5114 Tony Thu, 09 Apr 2009 03:57:43 +0000 http://www.trilliumtransit.com/blog/?p=189#comment-5114 OK, don't laugh: I took the bus today for the very first time. I'm not gonna lie, I had a little difficulty using the "plan a trip" function on the local transit agency web site. Then again, I was feeling a little impatient, so I didn't feel like trying to figure it out. Next I decided to looked at a map on the back of a bus shelter. All I could make out where letters and numbers and lines and acckkk! HELP!!! Whatever the case, I made it to my appointment only 10 minutes late. Thanks to the kindness of the bus driver and some fellow passengers I probably would not have made it at all. OK, don’t laugh: I took the bus today for the very first time. I’m not gonna lie, I had a little difficulty using the “plan a trip” function on the local transit agency web site. Then again, I was feeling a little impatient, so I didn’t feel like trying to figure it out. Next I decided to looked at a map on the back of a bus shelter. All I could make out where letters and numbers and lines and acckkk! HELP!!! Whatever the case, I made it to my appointment only 10 minutes late. Thanks to the kindness of the bus driver and some fellow passengers I probably would not have made it at all.

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