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Today I had the opportunity to install our first alpha test unit of the Transit Appliance at Bailey’s Taproom (213 SW Broadway at Ankeny).
Happily, compared to hotel WiFi setups, Bailey’s was a snap, with a simple passphrase entry.
But each installation comes with new discoveries. At this location near the transit mall there are simply too many arrivals to display on one screen! We may need to look at a paging scenario (but that contradicts the ‘glanceable’ use case we’ve been trying to support). So for now we’re focusing on displaying the arrivals for the two nearest MAX stations. We make tweak that based on requests from Bailey’s customers.
So please go check it out and have a beer by way of a thank you to owner Geoff Phillips for being our first guinea pig.
I hope to be showing another unit at GOSCON (Government Open Source) this week (another hotel WiFi scheme to navigate).
After that I hope to find an eastside coffee house location for our next alpha test!
Find it right by the cash register |
Now playing at Bailey’s:
13 responses to “Transit Appliance Goes Out for a Beer”
Might be able to fit more on there by using a different kind of layout than the table, but I’m not sure what. Or figuring out how to get less verbose with some of the text?
For instance, maybe instead of “MAX Yellow Line to Expo Center”, some kind of MAX-train looking icon with a yellow dot that says Expo Center under it?
Or, maybe reduce redundancy? Instead of showing three different rows for different trains to PSU, just have it once but make it clear there’s an arrival in 5 minutes, 12 minutes, and 20 minutes?
And a solution to this problem would be cool. I experience it on the Transit Tracker displays, the PDXBus app, everything! It drives me nuts.
Here’s what happens: I walk up to a bus stop, pull up the arrivals, and I see that nothing is going to arrive for like fifteen minutes. So I give up and try to find a nearby zipcar because I’m in a hurry, or I go grab a bite to eat, whatever, only to find out the bus was actually mere moments away and I miss it. If I had been at the stop longer, I would have seen that the bus was at “0 minutes” a minute or too ago and knew it was on the way, but as soon as its time was up, it’s gone, even if the bus for some reason didn’t actually arrive yet.
Fixing the issue for real is probably Trimet’s problem (the system should know where the busses really are!), but it could be worked around by continuing to show the last departed bus for a minute or two, just in case.
Might be able to fit more on there by using a different kind of layout than the table, but I’m not sure what. Or figuring out how to get less verbose with some of the text?
Exactly the kind of issues I want to look at in this alpha test period.
In the Trimet API, there are two versions of the line name: fullsign and shortsign. I’m not sure which you’re using, but if you’re using fullsign, you might want to try shortsign.
This is really cool!
A passing thought… perhaps this could help reduce drunk driving!
If you have trouble at the next hotel, I’d bring a laptop, get that on the Internet, and use it as an access point for the device.
Or, maybe reduce redundancy? Instead of showing three different rows for different trains to PSU, just have it once but make it clear there’s an arrival in 5 minutes, 12 minutes, and 20 minutes?
I think this is a good suggestion too. Some kids at UW created an application called OneBusAway, which attempts to solve the same problem. They have a different task, since they target mobile and web, vs a single purpose device. (they also can leverage the King Count Metro’s GPS data. Maybe write a letter to Sam Adams and let him know what your goals are, and if he’d let you prototype on a single route.
Bailey’s is cool , try the new eastside pub , Barrel Room , and their stunning unique beers.
Chris-
how much does a system cost, presuming wifi is available?
I was thinking that the City of Portland should have one in the lobby of the Portland Building, maybe two based on the various lines that are nearby.
$169 plus about $5 for a thumb drive!
Chris,
since you are showing MAX lines, is it possible to “color coordinate”? Yellow Line trains in Yellow; Green Line trains in Green?
We have had a similiar feed on the http://www.swanislandtma.org for a few years for 72 and 85 buses leaving Swan Island. Very handy; maybe we could install one of these at the Anchor Street shelter? Are they weather proof?
Thanks Chris.
Color coding breaks down except for MAX, I’m not sure it’s worth doing a purpose-specific UI for MAX, but if we had a volume request…
This one is definitely for indoors, but I’m keeping my eyes open!
Chris,
Looking forward to seeing these devices in more places, but Bailey’s is a great place to start. I really like the suggestions others have provided such as different colors, icons, and multiple arrival times per route on one line. I for one, am interested in nearby buses from Bailey’s. In particular line 17.