I don’t know what it is abut the Seattle area and public transportation that makes it work so much better there than anywhere else in the US, but I wish it was a viral thing that would spread to the rest of the country.

iphone_bus screenshot The majority of US cities with public transportation infrastructures … mainly busses, treat them as a necessary evil for the "poor folk" to ride and make them work only as well as the Federal grant money they beg for them requires.

In Seattle they not only expect that people might actually take the bus even if they could afford a different mode of transport, but they make it easy for the riders to use the system.

Here’s one excellent example that just got underway due to the popularity of the Phone and other 3G type devices that more or less bring the Internet to the handset.

Instead of making a user go through a list of choices abut where he or she is, and making the user tell the system where he or she is going … what if you know you want a particular route but have no idea what is at the distant end, as an example?

Not only is the iPhone application a gangbuster effort in terms of simplicity, usability and understated functional elegance, it is well worth a look at the website that powers the system, OneBusAway.org Just a simple screen, easy to use on a handheld device or by a handicapped computer user and just three simple choices, use a phone number to reach someone to help, use a website, complete with maps and other arrival information or go to the simple iPhone application I showed in the screen shot.

That’s what we need.  Someone who will apply the KISS principle and make it easy to ride instead of making people jump over hurdles.

Filed under: gps fleet tracking

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!