By Frank Hebbert, Associate Planner, RPA
Earlier this year, the MTA abandoned a long-running project to track the location of buses and provide real-time information about the arrival of the next bus. It was reported that satellite trackers get confused by tall buildings and computers can't handle unpredictable traffic conditions. Similar plans for the city's subway have also not materialized. It appears that knowing when your bus or train will show up is too expensive and complicated for a big city like this.
Or is it? Maybe, if one depends on a comprehensive, centralized system for information. But is there a more diffuse way to get necessary information to people when they need it?
Whatever means are used, clearly it's a challenge. Delays happen across the train and bus system all day, some major, some minor. Knowing where these delays are requires knowing where the buses and trains are and where they should be. And buses in particular are subject to many more factors - congestion, construction work, weather - that make variations in journey times even more likely. Turning information about delays into an estimated arrival time is trickier still.
The MTA's text message alerts for subway delays are a step towards better information, but they're not a solution. The messages can't reach riders already in the system, and frequently arrive too late to be useful. Around a third of adults in New York City don't have a cell phone, and many who do are on a plan that makes them pay for each message received. And the system doesn't help anyone making one of the 2.3 million bus trips taken every day, many of whom are dependent on the bus system to reach their workplace on time.
An affordable, reliable solution to this challenge may involve the users themselves in sending and receiving the right information, and creating the system that allows them to it. In many ways, it's the same principles that helped create the World Wide Web, which relies on thousands of different servers talking to each other. Or file sharing among millions of users over the Internet. Or the Open Source software movement. Something similar may be possible with transit information.
For example, could my cell phone automatically contribute information about my bus ride to a distributed network of individuals, providing a real time view of the entire transit system? I bet so. And the best way to develop such a system is not to hire an expensive engineering-consulting team, but to ask for help from riders and citizens themselves.
Throwing open the problem of transit service information to the ingenuity of our metro area would allow thousands of creative, technical people to contribute skills, technical knowledge and flat out brilliant ideas - for free. The northeast is home to powerhouses of research in our universities, and our creative industries are among the best in the world. Already, open source enthusiasts, techno geeks and data nuts are a-twitter about ideas for better cities, chewing over the problems on websites like diycity.org. By inviting the wisdom of the crowd, and offering schedule information and maps in open formats, the MTA will cheaply support innovation for the immense benefit of our region.
What might work for transit information can be used for other problems and challenges in urban areas. Collaborative planning and citizen engagement can become more powerful in our increasingly connected and information-rich cities, tackling the mega-problems - from transit information to climate change.
Better planning requires a change in planning culture and processes at all levels of government. The essential first step is to make public data available: maps, traffic models, land use data, service schedules - the lot. Much urban data remains in paper form or is simply unavailable, despite a freedom of information culture that is envied by many other nations, and decades of information from the Census and many other agencies. We need that data in myriad formats to support more responsive government, faster and more effective decision-making, more meaningful citizen engagement and greater scrutiny of planning decisions. Everyone benefits from it, from existing planning organizations to educational groups to creative individuals with bright ideas.
Making better cities together will require a happy fusion of low-tech solutions and the cutting edge, open data and better processes, long-term infrastructure investments and lateral innovation. From many directions, these things are slowly starting to happen, and it's a really exciting time for planning. It's not only the B44 that's just around the corner.
Earlier this year, the MTA abandoned a long-running project to track the location of buses and provide real-time information about the arrival of the next bus. It was reported that satellite trackers get confused by tall buildings and computers can't handle unpredictable traffic conditions. Similar plans for the city's subway have also not materialized. It appears that knowing when your bus or train will show up is too expensive and complicated for a big city like this.
Or is it? Maybe, if one depends on a comprehensive, centralized system for information. But is there a more diffuse way to get necessary information to people when they need it?
Whatever means are used, clearly it's a challenge. Delays happen across the train and bus system all day, some major, some minor. Knowing where these delays are requires knowing where the buses and trains are and where they should be. And buses in particular are subject to many more factors - congestion, construction work, weather - that make variations in journey times even more likely. Turning information about delays into an estimated arrival time is trickier still.
The MTA's text message alerts for subway delays are a step towards better information, but they're not a solution. The messages can't reach riders already in the system, and frequently arrive too late to be useful. Around a third of adults in New York City don't have a cell phone, and many who do are on a plan that makes them pay for each message received. And the system doesn't help anyone making one of the 2.3 million bus trips taken every day, many of whom are dependent on the bus system to reach their workplace on time.
An affordable, reliable solution to this challenge may involve the users themselves in sending and receiving the right information, and creating the system that allows them to it. In many ways, it's the same principles that helped create the World Wide Web, which relies on thousands of different servers talking to each other. Or file sharing among millions of users over the Internet. Or the Open Source software movement. Something similar may be possible with transit information.
For example, could my cell phone automatically contribute information about my bus ride to a distributed network of individuals, providing a real time view of the entire transit system? I bet so. And the best way to develop such a system is not to hire an expensive engineering-consulting team, but to ask for help from riders and citizens themselves.
Throwing open the problem of transit service information to the ingenuity of our metro area would allow thousands of creative, technical people to contribute skills, technical knowledge and flat out brilliant ideas - for free. The northeast is home to powerhouses of research in our universities, and our creative industries are among the best in the world. Already, open source enthusiasts, techno geeks and data nuts are a-twitter about ideas for better cities, chewing over the problems on websites like diycity.org. By inviting the wisdom of the crowd, and offering schedule information and maps in open formats, the MTA will cheaply support innovation for the immense benefit of our region.
What might work for transit information can be used for other problems and challenges in urban areas. Collaborative planning and citizen engagement can become more powerful in our increasingly connected and information-rich cities, tackling the mega-problems - from transit information to climate change.
Better planning requires a change in planning culture and processes at all levels of government. The essential first step is to make public data available: maps, traffic models, land use data, service schedules - the lot. Much urban data remains in paper form or is simply unavailable, despite a freedom of information culture that is envied by many other nations, and decades of information from the Census and many other agencies. We need that data in myriad formats to support more responsive government, faster and more effective decision-making, more meaningful citizen engagement and greater scrutiny of planning decisions. Everyone benefits from it, from existing planning organizations to educational groups to creative individuals with bright ideas.
Making better cities together will require a happy fusion of low-tech solutions and the cutting edge, open data and better processes, long-term infrastructure investments and lateral innovation. From many directions, these things are slowly starting to happen, and it's a really exciting time for planning. It's not only the B44 that's just around the corner.
@RegionalPlan