From the monthly archives:

March 2009

Oregon Metro launches online planning tool

March 31, 2009

Metro, the regional government in the greater Portland (OR) area, has launched an online build-a-system planning tool to help residents compare options for a high-capacity rail system.

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Reality puts brakes on high-speed rail ambitions

March 31, 2009

“To Americans, high-speed trains evoke the gee-whiz factor of a trip to Tomorrowland: Ride futuristic cars that zoom you to a destination in a fraction of the drive time…”

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Vancouver TransLink smart card about two years away

March 31, 2009

TransLink is moving toward smart cards. The Vancouver (BC) system expects to award a contract later in the year, with implementation about two years away.

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Contactless smart card market expected to grow

March 31, 2009

Use of contactless smart cards is expected to grow by 33% over the next three years despite global economic conditions, according to industry research firm RNCOS.

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Port Authority buses to get smart card fareboxes

March 31, 2009

The Port Authority of Allegheny County, in Pittsburgh (PA), will start installing new fareboxes on its buses this summer in anticipation of a smart card system.

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New Golden Gate fareboxes flummox bus riders

March 31, 2009

New fareboxes on Golden Gate Transit buses are causing delays, as Marin County (CA) passengers get used to the new equipment.

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Tripping with Mr. Solomon: METRO turns to YouTube

March 30, 2009

The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County has turned to YouTube to promote its new Airport Direct service, which runs between downtown Houston (TX) and George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

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MBTA riders take the Facebook route

March 30, 2009

Boston-area transit riders are increasingly turning to Facebook to voice their opinions. One resident created a Facebook group to encourage the MBTA to partner with Google Transit.

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BART begins publishing rider tweets

March 30, 2009

San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit has begun to post observations from riders, collected from their Twitter tweets.  Twitter is the free social networking and microblogging service, where people share short posts or “tweets.”   Some favorites from this week’s round-up:

Some times I drive around BART parking lot looking for prime numbered spaces.
Sitting on the [...]

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Tech-savvy teenager takes Lexington transit in new directions

March 30, 2009

Thanks to a local teenager, the Lexpress system in Lexington, Massachusetts, is now represented on Google Transit.

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