Buses, Trains and the Media

Trip planner requires reality check

My father sent me an article [registration required] by a San Jose Mercury News columnist who regularly uses the local transit system, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). The columnist, Scott Herhold, decided to "test" the recently unveiled trip planner at the VTA website.

In journalistic parlance, "test" means to "poke holes," which is what he did. Using the Google-based trip planner, he rode a series of buses and trains to travel from his San Jose home to the Mercury News offices (in San Jose) to Fremont to Palo Alto and back home again.

What Herhold discovered was that the directions provided by the trip planner were, in some cases, impractical and, in other cases, idiotic. Using his own knowledge of the local transit system, he was able to reduce the overall travel time significantly.

So what does this mean? Herhold suggests that the VTA trip planner may still be a work in progress. That's a fair assumption. It will likely need to be tweaked to better adjust for the "realities" of public transportation. For 95% of the requested trips, it probably works just fine. When asked to map out times and routes for more complex trips, it may not provide the best solution.

I have the same experience with MapQuest. About nine times out of 10, it provides an accurate, efficient route from Point A to Point B. The other 10% of the time, I take another route based on my own understanding of the freeway systems and surface streets here in Los Angeles. It's still an excellent resource.

At the end of his column, Herhold suggests that many people will be tempted to choose "Drive There" as the best option provided by the trip planner. That will depend more on the dependability, efficiency and customer-friendliness of the transit system than it will on the intelligence of the trip planner.

Thanks for listening.

Steve

Feets, don't fail me now

I was feeling guilty this morning because I hadn't jogged for two days. More than guilty, I was feeling anxious. That's because I'm supposed to run in a marathon in Phoenix in about 2 1/2 weeks and I don't feel especially prepared. So, anyway, this morning I laced up my running shoes, and even though I'm still trying to shake a cold, I jogged about 4 miles. In a perfect world, I would have run about 8 miles, but I just didn't have it in me. I felt tired from the get-go, maybe because I took some antihistamines last night and the effect hadn't worn off yet.

I've never run a marathon before. I've done about 6 half-marathons, though, and finally decided that I needed to step up and try the real thing. My choice this past fall to leave my job as a magazine editor to start my online business feels eerily similar . . . like now is the time to step up and try something daunting and more than a little scary.

Coincidentally, perhaps, I turned 50 in October. For those of you who haven't hit the half-century mark, it's not particularly pleasant. I've become very conscious, or maybe self-conscious, about my age. When I read the Wall Street Journal, I check the ages of the various CEOs and other business leaders to see if they're also past 50. Many of them aren't, of course, which only adds to my gloom. It's not that I want to be a CEO, it's just that I don't feel like I have a lot of time left to make my mark.

I really want to do well in the marathon. And in my new business. And I want to get used to being 50 and not feeling like the best part of my life is over.

Why gate crashers raise my hackles

Don't you hate it when people spend way too much time telling you about their pet peeves? Well, then you're going to hate this. . .

My pet peeve . . . motorists who crash the gate of the left-turn arrow. That is, people continuing through a left turn even after the signal has turned red. Even buses, yes, are guilty of this traffic sin.

It seems to be getting worse, too. Used to be that just a couple of cars would blow through the traffic signal after it turned red. Now, it's three or four, sometimes more. It's most annoying, of course, when it happens while you're waiting to head through the intersection in the opposite direction.

I often try to get a look at the most egregious offenders. Based on my own unscientific observations, the gender most often guilty of pushing into the intersection long after the light has turned red is . . . well, I can't say because it would implicate my wife and my mother and, well, you get the picture.

So what does this have to do with anything. Not much. I just wanted to air this grievance and see if any of you have noticed the same increased incidence of this on-the-road behavior. I think local law enforcement should be more aggressive in ticketing these scofflaws, unless it's the very rare occasion when I'm running late and, er, joining the crowd crashing through the gate. At least I feel guilty about it!

Thanks for listening.

Steve

The celebrity on the bus

Tom Hanks isn't bashful about plugging his environmentally friendly Scion electric car in a short video on his MySpace page. Too bad he doesn't ride the bus. Although we often complain about the cult of celebrity, how cool would it be if Hanks actually rode the bus and was willing to post a video about the environmental benefits of public transportation?

Perhaps the next public relations campaign by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) could feature a celebrity who uses public transportation, assuming that one could be found. Yes, I know, in New York City, VIPs routinely use the transit system, but what about the buses in Los Angeles or Chicago or wherever these folks reside? Maybe the good people at Metro know of some Hollywood greenies who occasionally park their hybrids (and, er, sorry Tom, pure electrics) to ride the bus.

If you know of any celebrities (outside New York City) who use public transportation, let me know and I'll see what I can do to take best advantage.

Thanks for listening.

Steve

Gotta start somewhere

This isn't my first blog. I started one about 9 months ago while I was still employed. It was called, coincidentally, "Along for the Ride," and it discussed the school bus industry. At the time I was the editor of a magazine called SCHOOL BUS FLEET that covers pupil transportation. I was also the editor of METRO, another trade magazine, covering the transit and motorcoach industries.

I left the magazines, really the parent company, Bobit Business Media, to start my own business, an online job board for the public transportation industry called TransitTalent.com. After 13 years with Bobit, I felt like I had done as much as I could and really needed a change.

I'm not much of a job hunter, so I thought it would be less stressful, and more interesting, to start my own business. Although I've only been gone from Bobit for about 2 1/2 months, I've learned a lot about starting up a business. That's not to say, however, that I'm going to succeed. The law of averages are against me. Most start-ups fail within a year or two. I'm going to try to beat the odds, though.

I'll keep you posted on my progress in this blog. Since I haven't really gotten going with the business yet, I feel like it's premature to say too much. But I'm excited about the possibilities!

That's all for now.

Steve