Tag Archives: nyc

NYC Bus Redesign and a Coding Problem

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NYC is updating the MTA (metropolitan transit authority) bus system this summer with one set of changes taking effect today and another taking effect in about two months. How it went from my point of view:

The plan

There were four plans. Lesson: don’t call something the final plan or you have run out of names. My friends and I were wondering what they would call the real final plan “Final final”? They went with “Final Plan Addendum”. I will say the plan was well socialized and communicated.

  • 2019-2021: Draft Plan
  • March 2022: New Draft Plan released
  • December 2023: Proposed Final Plan released
  • December 2024: Proposed Final Plan Addendum released
  • January 2025: MTA Board approved the Proposed Final Plan Addendum

Leading up

For the most part, the MTA was good with signage. Signs for the new bus routes went up early. Existing stops had yellow signs saying if the stop would cease to be a bus stop or if the route was changing. In my neighborhood, there was a campaign a few weeks back in person to make sure people knew.

First day: bus stops

On one of the routes near me, two bus stops with bus shelters are no longer bus stops. One of them is no longer on the bus route. The other is, but not a bus stop. Drivers were good about letting people get on there and letting them know the bus stop moved.

The new bus stop in between these two stops had cars parked there overnight. (There was a sign that said no parking starting Sunday but it was hard to see.) That cleared up over the course of the day. Now, there’s a nice line of people waiting at the bus stop.

It’ll be interesting to see when the MTA takes down the old misleading bus shelters and if they build on at the new one. (I can see the new bus stop from my window so I’m particularly interested in what happens there.)

A new bus route

There’s a new bus route that goes limited stop from 1 or 2 blocks from my apartment to a number of areas that I go. (Whoo hoo! I don’t have to transfer buses to go there anymore. This is going to be great in the winter.)

Wait: did I say 1 *or* 2 blocks. Why yes, I did. The last stop of the new bus route is across the street from my apartment. The first step is … somewhere. According to the MTA it is a t a street corner two blocks away. The apartment building as a sidewalk tent (a type of scaffolding) and there doesn’t appear to be a bus stop there. One bus driver thinks the new bus is sharing a stop with another but even though there isn’t a sign for it there. It’s also possible it loads at the last stop.

This bus only runs every half hour on weekends and I wasn’t prepared to just miss it by waiting at the wrong place. The second stop is only a few blocks away so I waited there. I was fourth on line suggesting I was not the only one with that confusion. The bus came into the second stop with about a dozen people on it. They weren’t sure where the first stop was supposed to be nor was the driver.

I took this same bus home. Where the driver got confused and couldn’t find the last stop. While it is clearly marked, it is the break area for that bus and another one. The other bus was in front of the sign so the driver couldn’t see the stop and pulled onto a side street to look for the non-existent first stop. Which he couldn’t find either.

This feels like growing pains though. Overall, I was happy with the rollout.

Coding bug

The MTA runs a website where you can see when the bus is coming with real time info. It is mostly correct. And then every once in a while you get something like the following. (I’ve seen this problem before so it’s not related to the redesign.

One bus was “3 minutes” away. and just over a mile away. (This is a street where you can go 25 miles per hour and has a lot of lights. You can’t go a mile in 3 minutes unless you catch every light and nobody wants to get on or off the bus.) I find the distance to be more accurate than the time for routes in progress. Regardless, it’s close and clearly worth heading to the bus stop.

The next bus is about 30 minutes later and the scheduled to depart terminal time is right at 2:30. The depart terminal for the next one is also right at 3pm. However, if you’ve mastered elementary school math, you might notice that a bus that leaves 30 minutes later is not arriving 3 minutes later (35-32).

The distance away is also interesting. The whole route is a little over 7 miles. And neither bus has left the terminals. Puzzling me where the number of miles away came from.

live blogging web 2.0 expo – tuesday keynotes

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See table of contents for full list of web 2.0 expo posts

I got a seat in the front row. No tall person in front of me like at ignite!

Opening Remarks Sarah Milstein (TechWeb)
  • @sarahm – spelling @brady say to send speaker feedback
  • Live stream w2tv.co
  • I had heard Rachel speak earlier in the year – when she was brand new on the job. A lot more confident now.
  • “city streets are the original social network” – DOT.

4 keys

  • Access to technology. Library cruical to providing access [therefore keep talking about cut ting weekend hour s]. Also more wifi in parks
  • Open government – want city to be a platform like twitter where city opens data and others do things with it. NYC holds contests to make that happen. Hurricane Irene was example of nyc.gov going down due to too much traffic. Since data was available before, other sites could make/host own copy. #reinventnycgov first ever NYC hackathon
  • Engagement – reach people through social media. More conversation with public. Twitter promoted @nycmayorsoffice to twitter users identifying NYC as location during irene. Got 30K new followers that weekend. @311nyc quietly launched to ask/answer questions so can see what others ask. NYC has more mobile apps than any other US city
  • Industry – encouraging startups in city, competitions

What Does It Mean to Be a Media Company Today? Alexa von Tobel (LearnVest.com)

told the story of starting her company. Emphasis on how progressed from email to web to tools to ask an expert. Main point: listen to users vs try to identify bucket company falls in.
I did notice the speaker holding notes. Partially because I am in Toastmasters where we practice noticing. And partially because notes at a keynote are rare unless they are for stats.

David, Meet Goliath: Infusing Major Players with Startup Culture Anil Dash (Activate), Brad Garlinghouse (AOL, Inc.), Tony Conrad (about.me, True Ventures & Sphere), Jason Shellen (AOL)

  • big companoes already have scale, can get startup idea bigger faster. Aol can advertise about.me on billboards and in cabs
  • “big companies think ahout compensation the way communists think about compensation”
  • Aol working on no install needed video chat (but said part of aim so do you need aim software or fully on web?)
  • Must give team enough rope to not be dragged into parent. Reddit did it well
  • About.me trying to distance self from main aol
  • Doesn’t always work. Depends on whether parent company will allow autonomy
  • Book: the lean startup
  • Middle part is boring- prioritzation, choosing customers – so nobody talks about it

5 principles

  • Entrepreneurs are everywhere- startup about creating something new under extreme uncertainty. Size doesn’t matter
  • Entrepreneurship is managenent – Fredrick Taylor invented concept of management. Primary tools are planning and forecasting. Which requires long/stable history to forecast. But this century is too uncertain. The pivot – evolved into what needed. Speed wins – first to each pivot wins
  • Validated Learning – a startup is an experiment, how do you know if making progress or wasting people’s time
  • Build measure learn feedback loop – want to minimize ime thru loop
  • innovation accounting – build minimum viable product so customers can try then can experiment more

How Consumers Will Pay in the Future Carleligh Jaques (Visa)

  • Your bank issues the plastic credit card. Visa is the engine behind it.
  • 6 seconds on a full page disclaimer of text
  • Purchasing 2.0 must span onkine, mobile and physical stores
  • Entering credit card online could be more seamless. Especially on mobile
  • Digital wallet has multiple choices for form of payments. Just like we have multiple credit cards and coupons in a physical wallet. Called Visa V but not just for visa cards.
  • Want to enroll indigital wallwt thru where do online banking now and enter card info once. Merchant must have Visa V as option. Then choose which card want to use. [i wonder what happens is you have multiple home addresses because one card doesn’t believe there is a dash in your address]

A Conversation with Fred Wilson and Carlota Perez Carlota Perez (Cambridge and Sussex Universities, UK, and TUT, Estonia), Fred Wilson (Union Square Ventures )

  • Book: Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital: The Dynamics of Bubbles and Golden Ages
  • Crash always comes after mania. The meaning of the collapse is what is important. It means the technology is fully in place. Such as railroada. Right now we are in turning point – the recession after collapse. Governments find it out hard to change without tremendous pressure. Unemployment came out of last huge crash so people could buy house/car and keeo paying if lost jobs for a few months. Now it is about social over consumption. Need to revamp infrastucture and products to be sustainable so last longer. Protests natural now because people are angry. Youth unemployment is much higher than regular. People scared that no future. When universityless important, it was free now it is debt for life [consider cuny less than 10k per year]
  • Can’t go back to past, it is gone. Fianance must be incentivied to support reeal economy.

Innovation in Open Networks and the Media Lab Joichi Ito (MIT Media Lab)

  • Large companies think more about possible downside whe reventure capitalists have minimal downside so can dfocus on upside.
  • Pull what need when needed. Startups don’t stick to original idea. Move towards what need.
  • MIT Media lab is 25 years old. Focus on building things but soans disciplines.
  • Cool slideshow showing variety of domains for what build.

Using Data to Live in a Chaotic World DJ Patil (Greylock Partners)

  • Pendulum (spelling?) game. Guess when last time double pendulum circles. Chaotic patten. Can’t tell when stops and only 4 variables. Only way to predict is to take lots of data, make small predictions and correct.
  • Then tried to balance broomstick on hand. Nice props for last talk.