Bay Area Rapid Transit (CA) has partnered with the junaio augmented reality platform to create a BART channel. With augmented reality, users can create or see digital content, like text or graphics, on top of the real-world view through a mobile phone. As BART’s blog explains:
For example, a rider coming out of the Montgomery BART Station in San Francisco could see recommendations left by friends for restaurants or shops to try that are nearby that station. Or, simply by pointing the camera on her phone, a user could find the direction of the nearest BART station and get a list of estimated arrivals for the next several trains to her destination.
Junaio is currently free for the iPhone and in development for Android. Link to full story at SFBART’s blog.
Korean researchers have developed an electric vehicle that draws its power from the road. The online electric vehicle collects power via non-contact magnetic transmission from recharging strips in the ground. Currently in operation at a Seoul amusement park, the vehicle could be adapted to the public transit system if testing is successful. Link to full story in Engadget.
As many bloggers know, starting a blog is easy. Having something new (or clever) to say is a lot harder. Enter Blog Muse, an IBM application that uses crowdsourcing to match blog writers with popular topics. “We saw this disconnect between readers and writers,” said IBM researcher Werner Geyer. The tool attempts to close the gap:
Readers use the widget to suggest topics they want to read about, and they can vote in support of existing suggestions. Those suggestions then get sent to possible writers, matching topics to writers by analyzing his social network connections and areas of expertise.
There’s just one catch. So far, the widget has not improved the quality of posts. Link to full story in Technology Review.
Google Maps is adding bicycle routes for 150 U.S. cities, making the announcement at the 10th Annual Bike Summit in Washington (DC). “This has been a top-requested feature from Google Maps users for the last couple years,” said Google’s Shannon Guymon in Autopia. “There are over 50,000 signatures on a petition.” Google’s bike-mapping algorithm uses several inputs, including bicycle lanes or trails, topography, and traffic signals. The maps show bicycle routes in green — dark green for bike trails, light green for dedicated bike lanes, and a dotted line for streets that are otherwise bikable. Still missing: a mobile application and turn-by-turn directions. Link to full story in Autopia.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (NY) plans to restore fare collection along the entire Staten Island Railway. Currently only two stations on the 14-mile line have turnstiles where passengers can swipe their Metrocards; the ride is free for trips that start and end at any other stations. The new system, still years away, would use contactless smart cards, although there are no plans to introduce fare gates at most stations. According to the Staten Island Advance, the railway lost about $3.4 million a year when onboard fare collection was eliminated in 1997. Link to full story in the Staten Island Advance.
When Miami-Dade Transit (FL) rolled out its EASY contactless smart card system last fall, the agency was trying to improve customer convenience, address fare evasion, and collect better ridership data. ContactlessNews writes about the expedited 15-month schedule:
To smooth the transition to tapping the new plastic EASY Cards and paper EASY Tickets on contactless smart card scanners, MDT looked inward to draw upon the experience of its own transit chief and went outside itself to seek help of an experienced vendor.
Also key to the smooth transition was customer outreach and training. “I give credit to my marketing staff,” said MDT director Harpal Kapoor. “They led the whole outreach effort passionately and took every complaint seriously. When we had issues, we adjusted right away.” MDT selected Cubic as its vendor for the fare system. Link to full story in ContactlessNews.
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority is experimenting with several approaches to providing countdown information on buses and trains, as regular readers of The Transit Wire know. The New York Times summarizes these efforts, talking with passengers about their experience. “Since it got put up, I find myself really relying on it,” one passenger told The Times. Not everyone agreed. “It doesn’t change the way I commute,” another rider said. “We probably don’t trust them. As a New Yorker, you know that nothing works.” MTA chairman Jay Walder hopes to change that attitude, saying, “We can take some of the angst out of the subway and bus experience.” Link to full story in The New York Times.
