I was rooting around the RTC website for inspiration for more how-to videos, and found that they don’t have a map for their bus pass vendors. Well, here you go! Enjoy.
- Let Google know that you want the “Add Destination” option on public transit searches. Currently, it’s only available for car searches. This option allows you to add stop between your main route so you can plan a more efficient trip.
- Write a letter to RTC Southern Nevada asking for cell phone text alerts of bus arrival times. That way, you can take your time at the store, coffee shop, or where ever you happen to be without worrying about missing the your bus. Also, you’ll neve be stranded at a stop again because of bus malfunctions or traffic congestion.
RTC Southern Nevada
600 S. Grand Central Pkwy.
Ste.. 350
Las Vegas, NV 89106
Phone: 702-676-1500
Fax: 702-676-1518
So here is my attempt at some flash fiction based on a real accident. Every so often I’ll troll the headlines in Vegas papers for crashes and other automobile news to create a piece of flash fiction. I give myself 30 minutes to come up with a story. Please enjoy!
Monday, Sept. 14, 2009, 9:05 a.m.
“Ok so like last night I call up Jason and I’m like ‘Omigod hi Jason!’”
“What’d he say?”
“He was like ‘Hi Jen’”
“And you said?”
“I said hi again. We like said hi for like five minutes, haha!”
“Hey driver watch it! You almost hit that SUV!”
“He smells like the Double Down.”
“What do you know about the Double Down?”
“Ew, that place smells like bacon and tequila.”
“Jennifer! What did Jason say?”
“Oh yeah, so…SHIT!”
“Here, tie this strap around your arm to your ruler.”
“Wha? What happened?”
“The bus crashed and your arm got caught between the seat and the wall.”
“Shit, dude. Thanks Doogie.”
“Shut up, dude. I’m gonna help the others.”
“She’s bleeding from her head…she’s, she’s not saying anything.”
“What’s her name?”
“Jennifer. Is she going to be ok?”
“I…I don’t know. The paramedics should be here soon.”
“Didn’t you help that other guy?”
“Yeah I did ok but I’m not a doctor. I can’t…I can’t bandage head injuries.”
“Ok, ok. Sorry. What should we do?
“Wait and don’t panic.”
When I lived in France, I lived right next to a bus stop. The very bus I needed to get to my teaching gig about three miles away. I relied on the route’s brochure and constantly leaning over the window rail from my third floor apartment to see when the next bus would come. It was low-tech but effective.
Now, bus tracking companies like NextBus can update you when your bus will arrive. You can do it either on their website or from your phone. You can see my instructional video at the bottom to learn how to use it.
Another cool feature shows your bus traveling along on a Google map. Director of business development, Larry Rosenshein, says that the bus sends their system a signal every 30 to 60 seconds. Below is a screenshot from Georgia Tech’s red line.
The little red flag moves each time the position is updated, which is a pretty nifty sight to see.
Rosenshein says that this is perfect for bus systems that have a lot of “headway,” which is the fancy schmancy way of saying “a lot of time between stops.” It can alert riders to route changes, bus breakdowns, or whatever else. These messages can be viewed on the live Google map or messages can be scrolled on tickers installed at bus stops.
A disadvantage I ran into is learning how to navigate the cell phone protocol and prompts. During the filming of my instructional video, I encountered several error messages when trying to track San Francisco’s Muni route from Fisherman’s Warf. Depending on the complexity of a city, riders would need to be educated on how to use the text service -- what the abbreviations are, how to reply to texts sent from NextBus, etc. Given that a majority of commuters are lower-income and barely have access to a computer, better instructions sent to your phone would be helpful. (Recently, a study found that minorities use mobile technologies more than the alternative).
Rosenshein said he’s approached the RTC of Southern Nevada about using NextBus but hadn’t really pursued further than a couple of phone calls. Public information officer Tracy Bower told me that they are planning on their already installed GPS software to track buses. No word though on which company they prefer. Rosenshein did say that to set up their system, which takes around three months, would cost less than a brand new bus. In 2005, according to the APTA, a new 40 foot bus cost $354,000.
How would you use NextBus around campus? What’s been your experience with similar systems?
I don’t have internet at home and I’ve been in a whirlwind lately. Went to Netroots Nation, moved in to a new place, and bid adieu to my beau, Mark, as he travels to Beijing.
So updates will be coming, just not until I get that damn internet chez moi (sometime Thursday).
Several universities in the U.S. charge students a nominal fee per semester or year for a free ride on public transportation.
U.C. Berkeley’s fee is $59 per semester to ride the bus and train in and around the university area. Students can take the AC Transit line and the BART to San Francisco, Fremont and Stanford. With what they call the “Class Pass” students also get discounts on other public transportation services in the Bay Area.
According to a Fall 2005 survey, almost 90 percent of students chose to get the Class Pass (which is free but not automatically handed out). Of those surveyed, 31 percent took public transit with a majority walking to campus. But it’s not because they live on campus – more than half of students surveyed lived off-campus.
What’s more, a little less than half have a car that they use primarily for shopping and recreation. Which means that students are actually choosing to use alternative modes – walking, biking, and busing.
Although there aren’t any specific figures, an April 2009 publication from the parking and transportation department at the university estimated that over 90 percent of students and 50 percent of faculty and staff took alternative transport.
The Class Pass program was established in 1998 and was voted on in 2006 to continue for another seven years.
UNLV can take notes from Berkeley on how to, first of all, conduct a survey (the research department offers cash prizes for respondents) and go about implementing a program to promote sustainable transit.
I’d also note that what people say versus what they’d actually do can be worlds apart. When you ask a student, “Would you take the bus if it were free?” they may say no, but once you actually give them that choice, they’ll start thinking economically. Read “Nudge” by Thaler and Sunstein to learn about the glorious contradictions within each of us and how we can be nudged to do the right thing.
The subsidized fee for students is one of many options that UNLV has at its disposal to encourage students, faculty and staff to start taking alternative transit. What other ways can you think of?
Bogotá, Colombia, is a city of almost 8 million inhabitants. Very limited urban planning and a historic lack of infrastructure development resulted in public transit woes. Getting around in Bogotá can be tough, but the city has done a great job in recent years in improving public transportation and making the city more navigable.
Here are some ways that people get around in Bogotá.
So they’re many Vegas tweeters, mostly wannabe club boys and girls trying to out-crazy-story each other. But I chose the following based on the information they provide, how much they retweet and how often they reply. It’s an interactive world, so you gotta be interactive, right? Enjoy!
@kylebhansen. Get the best “behind the scenes” info on this Las Vegas Sun reporter.
@NevadaDOT. Traffic updates, studies, reports, and hey, even replies. Anything and everything you wanted to know on transportation in Nevada. @NDOTDistrict1 is Las Vegas’ area tweets.
@UNLVNews. Straight from the PIOs mouth at UNLV. Good for UNLV updates, not so good on interaction.
@Club_ride. RTC’s Club Ride is the valley’s car share program. They give good updates and aren’t afraid to reply!
@PTsLasVegas. If you haunt the bars, you’re gonna want to know which ones have drink specials, or whatever else it is PT’s Pub offers.
@SpringsPreserve. Great stuff on the Springs Preserve’s exhibits, green facts and events. They’re off to a good start.
@lvchamber. Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce has great info on the goings on with pros, business and news. They retweet and reply.
@cinevegas. Film news from Vegas’s premiere film festival and oddball moments out on the town.
Most bizarre: @I15NorthProject. The most reviled construction currently in Las Vegas has its own twitter. But don’t go on their own page because all the text is in white…Yeah.
There’s no question that a lot of people live and work around UNLV. Looking at the numbers of the RTC’s study, without a doubt this is a busy core. And it’s not just people driving around, it’s also people walking around, biking around, and getting off in front of the university.
Students commuting to UNLV tend to live to the southeast stretching out to the 215 South. It’s a wonder then why there hasn’t been more development transportation wise in this direction. There is 200 space Park & Ride lot just south of the airport, but that’s already within five miles of the university. And we all know how long it takes the buses to travel five miles (link).
Those are all interesting facts, but the success of the proposed Transit Hub, wherever it shall fall, is the implementation of the Maryland Parkway BRT plus other Park & Ride facilities in the southeast. In another study, the Mission Group proposed this layout for the BRT and Park & Ride facilities (from the Fixed-Guideway Transit for the Las Vegas Region Presentation) :
ACE BRT plan
(Interestingly, this study recommended a light rail system but the RTC went with bus rapid transit instead because of price concerns. For an awesome analysis of BRT versus Light Rail, see Yuri Popov’s, physics professor at University of Michigan, post.)
And of course, the success of both the Transit Hub and BRT line depend upon a revitalization of the corridor – i.e. Midtown UNLV. But with the dissolution of the Clark County Redevelopment Agency, everything is very much up in the air.
The next stop is the Maryland Parkway BRT study. Please forgive the delays, but you see, I am but one person reading through thousands of pages.
Here's the event schedule:
Several universities in the U.S. charge students a nominal fee per semester or year for a free ride on public transportation.
