Edward Vielmetti is inviting you to A2B3 lunch on Thursday at Eastern Accents in Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

Anatomy of a bus stop: reflections from IUE 2009

Some experiences shared from people who were at the IUE 2009 event.

Ed and Josh, waiting for the 3. Photo credit: Dan Cooney. All rights reserved (but I'm sure he'll share if you ask nicely).

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Three Minds on Digital Marketing (Organic)

Edward Vielmetti, one of the more interesting presenters at this year's Internet User Experience conference, brought up a profound question that every business... and every consumer should ask themselves...

Am I seen as an expense or an opportunity? Or in the case of a business, do you see your customers as an expense or do you see potential to sell product?

Some more observations culled from either my twitter stream or others:

"I like what these boots say about me."  (1) (2)

A copy of the folded schedule that I handed out, in the simpler fold that doesn't make it a book, thanks to Dan Cooney for the photo.  The real fold I used is a PocketMod.  There's a further work on this fold at re:PocketMod noting the inactivity of the original project.  Some of the back story goes to 2006 when analog planners hit a burst of creative activity.  PocketMod designer Chad Adams spoke about at least one design patent on the fold for use for event tickets, but I can't find the patent.

New AATA fare boxes require card swipes for all University of Michigan riders

from the Michigan Daily 2/10/2009:

AATA will require MCard holders to swipe cards through new fare boxes

By Lara Zade
Daily Staff Reporter  On  February 9th, 2009

Students wai tin line to have their MCards checked as they board an AATA bus, Monday, Feb. 9, 2009.

(Krista Boyd/Daily)

The days of quickly flashing your MCard to ride an Ann Arbor bus will soon be gone.

To cut down on the use of expired MCards, the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority will require all pass holders, including current yellow MCard holders, to swipe their cards through an updated fare box on all fixed route buses.

The change will take effect Feb. 16.

Note that any delays on boarding will affect on-time performance of routes that serve the University.  Some of those buses run very full at peak hours, and so you should watch for indicators of worse on-time performance for those routes when lots of U of Michigan passengers get on and off.

As a point of contrast, the U of Michigan buses don't require any ID or fares when boarding; their cost per bus-hour is in the $55/hr range, compared with AATA's $100/hr or so.  Those are not apples to apples comparisons, but certainly the faster you can board a bus full the less bus-hours you spend waiting at the curb and the more bus-hours you can spend getting from place to place.

AATA Local Advisory Committee meeting, unofficial notes, 2/10/2009

Ann Arbor Transportation Authority
Local Advisory Committee
Feb 10, 2009
unofficial notes
Edward Vielmetti

This is my notes from the LAC meeting of 2/10/09,
edited slightly but not intended as a faithful
transcript of the meeting.

I came in 10 minutes late; the meeting starts at
10:00am, and the AATA #6 from downtown gets there
at 10:01am. The meeting ends at 12:00 noon; the 
inbound #6 arrives at 11:58am.

--

The board discussed Tom Partridge's comments and reporting on same
in the minutes to the previous meeting.
He was apparently somewhat disruptive in the meeting,
and the meeting minutes attempt to reflect that. Some
discussion among the (relatively unprepared) board 
on how to prepare an accurate reporting of this.

"a lot of disorganization going on in the meeting".
apparently tom created a lot of interruptions. he
derailed the agenda. (was that his agenda).

There is a recording device at the table; is that
going to be shared? I don't know.

No one has name tags or table tents showing their names.

--

chris white

AOS calculates schedule adherence for each service at each
bus stop. "from our point of view we publish a time point
the driver can't leave before that time". 57 after the hour.
can't leave before 57. intermediate times keep track of it.
trying to publish that information, in a different way,
not guarantee . keyed to places where bus can sit. "not
beyond the realm of possibility".

real time information move to do it on cell phones. attraction
of cell phones is to call up anywhere you want and find
the schedule adherence of the next bus. do it in office,
on way to office, on bus stop. difficulty of maintaining
information at bus stops, struggling with. easier to put it
up than it is to maintain it. schedule cases difficult to
maintain. a few real time signs at stops, issue of getting
power to them. solar power next thing. from our point of view
the best option is cell phones. last survey: most riders did
have them. limited income, almost all cell.

text 'AATABUS 6' to 41411

detail discussion of time adherence at all stops. leave a little
early if traffic is clear.

services with cognitive impariments, difficult time riding the bus.
difficultiy accessing information.
do have support systems, talk to, 
call taker on the phone, schedule in person, general training.
one on one travel training, general mobility education.
work with individuals with disabilities.
"don't even use the book, it's too confusing."
too hard to train on a timetable.
best way tot do it is based on locatoin time to be there.
individual schedule, prepare it for them.

alternate formats, audio cd for indivduals.
schedule is read in audio format.
on request.
large print format.

important that need to be worked on.
meeting needs of those indivdiuals.
systemic basis, right down to the individual.

I told the story of going from mary markley to burns park elementary,
and how my son in 3d grade was asked to help prepare
a route for someone visiting the school. It might be
hard if you try to mix University and AATA routes.

--

problem of getting buses to CIL in the middle of Ann Arbor
Research Park. Nothing from the city side. 

CIL, Social Security moved to research park drive just off
of ellsworth road. No sidewalks on S side of Ellsworth,
N side no curb and gutter. Very busy, difficult for bus 
stops, hard to cross. Cross busy road, stand on shoulder.
city looking at a signal. S side in Pittsfield Twp no 
sidewalks until development. A lot of time to cross
Ellsworth +5 at the corner. 

Stimulus package: $200k for bus stops. Added money for
urban transit systems, amount up in the air, somewhere
between $6 and $8 million, must be spent in 1.5 yrs.
Short term: lead walks, benches; sidewalk design work;

--

Design of park and ride lot at Plymouth Road and US-23,
in the interchange at SW quadrant. 300 spaces. P&R
plan, 1st thing to do. Intercept traffic before it
gets into the more crowded part of Ann Arbor.

Internet service is back up and running. Email lost when
provider had "financial difficulties". Now working as
a part of the city's email and internet with the county
as well. So far 2 weeks, things working real well. Ridetrak
lost at the worst time possible, bad weather, snow and
the cold. Really a terrible time, couldn't have been
worse.

--

Public participation at board committee meetings, PMER,
Planning and Development, Governance.

1. "Should not be open to the public". Board did not
adopt that as the policy. Communicate those comments
to the board. Comment in writing? Committees new, trying
to reorganize how the work is done. 

--

New business.

Proposal for fare changes. Two phone calls in past three weeks,
both not in support of the fare change proposal; affects
the people who need the service the most. Make trips less
frequently, take less and save up money.

Haven't had any other calls. 

--

people's express is running now

northfield
salem
superior
ypsilanti
pittsfield
augusta
york
lodi
bridgewater
scio (parts of; cdbg funds; $1/ride to go anywhere)

anyone can get. all senior centers at least once a year.
information on aata web site? not getting the word out.
washtenaw county commissioners, some meetings are televised.

other places to meet?

can aata provide added access to the meeting?
podcast, recording, other access.
community television network across the street.

what would be possible?

would podcasting be viewed by more people?

don't want to spend money, just access 
for what people?

can you take the recording? whose recording?


--

end of notes.

aata mobile ridetrak via SMS demo; SuperHathawayDevHouse Feb 18, 2009

The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority has a system to let you check where the bus is by going to a web page; it's called Mobile Ridetrak.  I've written about it before, both when it has not been working and when it has been working.

The current Mobile Ridetrak is available only by a web page, which puts it out of reach for most mobile phones that don't have a web browser.  The AATA does not directly support SMS access, but a demonstration application has been put together to show how it might work; if you text 'AATABUS 5' to the shortcode 41411 you'll get the demo.  Note that if there's more than 140 characters worth of text on the status page you'll get a partial listing; one thing you'd need to address to put this into production would be a more compact status message of bus location.

e.g., instead of a 75 character status message for each bus like

436 to Ann Arbor On time
@ Ypsilanti Transit Center
Congress & Hewitt 10:08

you'd want to compress that down to as few as 29 characters like

To ARB Congress/Hewitt 10:08

which might just let you fit all of the information about both inbound and outbound buses on a route into a single concise 140 character update. 

This application was built on Textmarks and was announced on the a2b3 list by Dug Song, who encouraged people who are interested in transit info to join in the SuperHathawayDevHouse next meeting

on Wednesday, February 18, 2009, 6 - 11 PM

rsvp required!

AATA proposes fare hikes; mobile ridetrack still down, 6 weeks after going offline

"Bus data is not available at this time. This does not necessarily indicate that buses are not running. Please check your schedule for times."

Mobile Ridetrack is still down, six weeks after going offline.  I suggest that you contact the AATA to get a current piece of information from them about restoration of service.  I have no idea what to expect.

PRESS RELEASE                                            

For immediate release

Fare proposal attached

January 19, 2008

Ann Arbor Transportation Authority

2700 South Industrial Hwy., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

734.973.6500; 734.973.6338F; www.theride.org

Mary K. Stasiak, Mgr. Community Relations

734.677.3901; mstasiak@TheRide.org

 

AATA proposes changes to fare structure

 

ANN ARBOR, MI – The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority (AATA) is seeking public input on proposed changes to its fare structure for fixed-route and paratransit services at a series of public meetings to be held in February.

 

According to AATA Board Chair David Nacht, the adult full fare for AATA fixed-route service has not changed since August, 2002. Since that time, AATA has experienced significant increases in the cost of operations, as well as the tightening of available funding.

 

“AATA has cut costs for aspects of our operations under our control, as well as generating revenue through the sale of advertising space on our buses,” Nacht said.

 

AATA reduced its 2009 fixed-route operating costs by $5 per service hour through a variety of cost-saving measures. A review of comparable transit systems revealed that AATA had the lowest fares among its peers.

 

In addition, AATA has implemented continuous improvement teams to further control and reduce energy use, facility and vehicle maintenance, employee benefits and expenses related to its paratransit services. Approximately $300,000 in savings has been identified by the teams through projects which are expected to be implemented in the current fiscal year.

 

“The board is reluctant to raise fares, and actually rejected a fare increase proposal in 2006. Now we find that we must balance the impact on our riders with our need to run the authority in a financially prudent manner.

 

AATA has reached the point where we must consider revisions to our fare structure in order to assure that we are successful in meeting the growing demand for our services during this time of economic challenge, and also to ensure the future financial health of the authority,” Nacht said.

 

AATA’s proposal includes a two-phase increase to change the current fixed-route adult full fare of $1.00 to $1.25 in May, 2009 and to $1.50 in May, 2010. Current half-fare charges would go from 50 cents to 60 and 75 cents, respectively.

 

The proposal would eliminate the 25-cent fare on fixed-route service for Seniors and A-Ride customers; however, the fares on paratransit service would increase from $2.00 for an advance reservation trip to $2.50 in 2009 and $3.00 in 2010. Same-day trip fares would increase from $3.00 to $3.50 and $4.00, respectively.

 

Night Ride and Holiday Ride fares would remain at $5.00, with the fare for Senior and A-Ride cardholders remaining at $2.50.

 

In addition to 30-day passes, shorter-term passes are being considered at both regular and reduced-fare levels. These may include passes for a smaller number of days, or a specific number of trips.

 

The full draft proposal is available on the AATA web site, www.TheRide.org, and by request at 734.973.6500. The proposal will also be available beginning January 24, 2009 in the February, 2009 issue of “RideLines” on all AATA buses and at the AATA main office and transit centers.

 

The proposed fare structure is expected to generate an estimated $314,000 in additional revenue in the first year and $540,000 in the second year. It will also create opportunities for frequent riders who qualify to take advantage of discounted passes.

 

Comments and questions about the proposed fare changes are being received by AATA through February 27, 2009 by the following methods:

l Call the AATA Service Change Hotline at 734.677.3934.

l E-mail AATA at aatainfo@theride.org; put “Fare Changes” in the subject line.

l Fax AATA at 734.973.6338; address the fax to “Fare Changes”.

l Write to “Fare Changes”, AATA, 2700 S. Industrial Hwy., Ann Arbor, MI 48104.

l Attend one of the following public meetings:

 

     Ann Arbor District Library, Multipurpose Room, 343 S. Fifth, Ann Arbor

     Tuesday, February 10, 2009; 1-3 p.m.

     Tuesday February 17, 2009; 6-8 p.m.

 

     City of Ypsilanti Council Chambers, One S. Huron St., Ypsilanti

     Thursday, February 19, 2009; 4-7 p.m.

     Thursday, February 26, 2009; 1-3 p.m.

 

Upon request, additional meetings at the requesters’ locations will be added.

 

At each public meeting, people will have an opportunity to discuss the change individually with AATA staff members. Each meeting will also include a presentation on the proposed fare changes and the opportunity to ask questions or make comments in a group setting.

 

The facilities are accessible. Reasonable accommodation to permit persons with disabilities to participate will be made if requested at least two days in advance at 734.973.6500. Two weeks notice is required for interpreter service for persons with hearing impairments.

 

A copy of all written comments and a summary of verbal comments will be provided to the AATA Board of Directors before a decision is made on adopting any of the proposed changes.