Episode 44: Transit Data, Marketing & Communication with Aaron Antrim

Our guest today is transit data and communications consultant Aaron Antrim of Trillium Solutions. We learn how to manage, present and use transit information to improve mobility and expand freedom by making transit networks easier to use. Find Aaron's work at Trillium Solutions, including his analysis of social media for transit and what makes a great transit website. Or find him on Twitter.

Other links include: Detroit Bus Company; Rome2rio international trip planner; San Francisco Bay Area transit summary; Social Media is Bullshit by B. J. Mendelson.

Do you have thoughts on any of these topics?  Share them with the world (or just transit nerds) by emailing feedback@criticaltransit.com or using the contact form or those social media tools.

Find me this week at Transportation Camp and the TRB Annual Meeting in Washington DC, and hopefully testing out some new Epic Transit Journeys. Please get in touch if we might connect soon in Washington or elsewhere in the northeast.

UPDATE: If you're in Washington this week you might like another event called GTFS in the World, a workshop on open transit data.

Finally, if you enjoy what you hear each week, please help support this project by sharing it with your friends and colleagues, leaving a review on iTunes and other places, and consider sponsoring an episode if you are able to.

Transit Tip 1. Information: put it everywhere!

Providing comprehensive transit information is arguably the most important element of a useful system. Sure, you need to run a reliable service, but people need to know how it can help them and how they can use it. Sometimes you just need a quick schedule check. Sometimes you need to know the universe options. Usually it's something in between. Yet so many bus stops lack basic schedule information, or worse, don't even say what services might stop there.

Maintaining current schedules can be a challenge as they can change often. But the actual routes and their span and frequency rarely change. Make it a goal for every stop to display a route map, an overview of each route's span and frequency, and the operator's phone number and website.

Episode 34: Transit News, Listener Feedback, Lessons from Pittsburgh

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Finally a new episode with your feedback as well as some thoughts on recurring transit strikes and worsening climate change. I share some lessons from my experience riding buses and trains in Pittsburgh, including what kinds of information is important to visitors, new residents and seasoned transit users.

Links to people, places and systems mentioned on this episode:

San Francisco BART transit strike; flooding in Calgary and Toronto; train explosion in Quebec; good news for wildfires; Progressive Podcast Australia; Bikes on Metra commuter rail (The Chainlink forum); riding Divvy bike share (Chicago); Port Authority of Allegheny County (Pittsburgh bus/rail operator); Bike PGH; struggling city of Braddock; ("mini-Detroit"); Stockholm congestion pricing; Bill Lindeke, GaryRidesBikes, Copenhagenize, StrongTowns, walking_boston, bostonrailfan, TheTAdventure.

UPDATE: Walking Bostonian (@walking_boston) wrote a great summary of the transit situation in Pittsburgh.

Please contribute to the growing conversation about sustainable transportation and spread the word by sharing my work on your favorite social media outlets.  Send in your feedback by emailing feedback@criticaltransit.com or using the contact form at criticaltransit.com.