by Karen Johnson, Design/Video Supervisor
Riders call us with lots of good questions.
“How do I catch a Swift bus?”
“What are my options for getting to Alderwood?”
“How do I load my bike on a bus?”
To provide another resource for our customers, Community Transit is creating Instructional Video Shorts for our website. These videos are about two minutes or less, and you'll be able to find them on our YouTube channel, in our Video Gallery and on topic-specific pages.
Video Shorts are easy to watch, with step-by-step instructions. Our first video short, “How to Use Our Trip Planner,” will show you how easy it is to plan your trip. Other topics you’ll find in the coming months include:
- ORCA
- How to Use Swift
- How to Buy Swift Tickets
- Riding The Double Tall
- Reading Schedules and Maps
- Bikes on Buses
- Transit Instruction Program
Our Customer Information Services division helps select the subject matter for our Instructional Video Shorts based on the questions they hear from riders. And the CIS staff is always available with personalized help for customers at (425) 353-RIDE (7433).
We’re always interested in more ways to help our customers. What are your ideas?
Can you suggest a topic that we should consider for our next quick instructional video?
Watch the video
Showing posts with label trip planner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trip planner. Show all posts
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
New Cabela's Store Could Boost Transit Revenues
The central element of Community Transit's financial woes the past five years has been the reduced level of sales tax revenue in our service district. It's not rocket science -- when the economy sours and people lose their jobs or fear for losing their jobs, they hold onto to their money and put off purchases, especially big-ticket items like homes, cars, boats, etc. The items that people do keep buying, groceries and food, are exempt from sales tax or generate little tax revenue.
So it's good news when a new major retailer opens in the district, as Cabela's will be doing with its Tulalip store on April 19. Quil Ceda Village, with its Seattle Premium Outlet mall, Tulalip Resort Casino and big boxes like Home Depot and Walmart, has been a strong economic force during the recession. The opening of a large store like Cabela's can help stimulate the economic recovery in Snohomish County.
Customers can also get to Cabela's, and other Quil Ceda destinations, on Community Transit. Route 222 goes through Quil Ceda Village and has its northernmost stop between the casino and outlet mall. Riders can connect with Route 222 in Marysville at State & 88th from Routes 201/202, which serve Smokey Point, Everett and Lynnwood, or plan their trips online.
Our Buy Local for Transit campaign encourages residents to keep their shopping dollars in the county. That, in turn, helps the bottom line for Community Transit as well as local cities and businesses.
So it's good news when a new major retailer opens in the district, as Cabela's will be doing with its Tulalip store on April 19. Quil Ceda Village, with its Seattle Premium Outlet mall, Tulalip Resort Casino and big boxes like Home Depot and Walmart, has been a strong economic force during the recession. The opening of a large store like Cabela's can help stimulate the economic recovery in Snohomish County.
Customers can also get to Cabela's, and other Quil Ceda destinations, on Community Transit. Route 222 goes through Quil Ceda Village and has its northernmost stop between the casino and outlet mall. Riders can connect with Route 222 in Marysville at State & 88th from Routes 201/202, which serve Smokey Point, Everett and Lynnwood, or plan their trips online.
Our Buy Local for Transit campaign encourages residents to keep their shopping dollars in the county. That, in turn, helps the bottom line for Community Transit as well as local cities and businesses.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Route 196 Schedule Adjustments
By Tom Pearce, Public Information Specialist
Since the February service change, we’ve been listening to customers and tracking service to see where things haven’t quite worked out. With that in mind, starting Monday, April 9, there will be changes to the Route 196 schedule.
On that date, all Route 196 trips in both directions that start after 2:40 p.m. will begin five minutes later. This adjustment, combined with a change to the way drivers’ work is configured, will help keep these buses on schedule the rest of the day.
The new Route 196 schedules will be posted at each stop by Monday, April 9. Meanwhile, the new schedules have already been posted online and are loaded into our Trip Planner so trips can be planned for after April 9.
Route 196 is a new route offering all-day half-hour service between the Alderwood mall area and Edmonds waterfront. The route is averaging more than 500 riders a day, which is very good for a new route. So far, this route has suffered from late trips in the afternoon and a lack of stops around the Lynnwood Civic Center/Lynnwood Transit Center area. We continue to work with Lynnwood officials on the bus stop issue.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Service Changes on Monday, Feb. 20
Next Monday, Community Transit bus service will change significantly.
For local riders in Snohomish County, there are major changes to the route network, as well as schedules. Several routes have been eliminated and others serve different destinations. Peak hour schedules (5:30-8:30 a.m. and 3:30-6 p.m.) will be largely the same, but off-peak schedules will have fewer trips, especially away from the urban areas. On Saturdays, buses will run less frequently than they have throughout the county.
Also, the latest any buses will operate is between 10-11 p.m.
For commute riders to downtown Seattle, several routes have been eliminated but most other routes remain the same, with fewer trips. Expect more riders on the remaining buses. Based on current ridership numbers, there should be seats for every rider if people store their belongings on their laps or beneath seats. Some trips may experience standing loads, especially in the afternoon when more people try to take the same bus back to Snohomish County.
Routes to UW are largely unchanged, except for some trip times.
If you have not planned your trip for next week (and maybe considered a Plan B), pick up a copy of the Bus Plus schedule book on buses or use the online Trip Planner. All new route schedules are available online, along with stop lists to tell you where the bus stops along each route.
While Monday is Presidents Day, there will not be a holiday schedule. All buses will run according to the new regular schedule. The Customer Information line (425 353-7433) will be open that day from 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Community Transit employees will be at various locations to help people with their trips on Feb. 20 and 21.
Community Transit is reducing service because of low revenues due to the economy. The agency is pursuing new funding options during the State Legislative session.
For local riders in Snohomish County, there are major changes to the route network, as well as schedules. Several routes have been eliminated and others serve different destinations. Peak hour schedules (5:30-8:30 a.m. and 3:30-6 p.m.) will be largely the same, but off-peak schedules will have fewer trips, especially away from the urban areas. On Saturdays, buses will run less frequently than they have throughout the county.
Also, the latest any buses will operate is between 10-11 p.m.
For commute riders to downtown Seattle, several routes have been eliminated but most other routes remain the same, with fewer trips. Expect more riders on the remaining buses. Based on current ridership numbers, there should be seats for every rider if people store their belongings on their laps or beneath seats. Some trips may experience standing loads, especially in the afternoon when more people try to take the same bus back to Snohomish County.
Routes to UW are largely unchanged, except for some trip times.
If you have not planned your trip for next week (and maybe considered a Plan B), pick up a copy of the Bus Plus schedule book on buses or use the online Trip Planner. All new route schedules are available online, along with stop lists to tell you where the bus stops along each route.
While Monday is Presidents Day, there will not be a holiday schedule. All buses will run according to the new regular schedule. The Customer Information line (425 353-7433) will be open that day from 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Community Transit employees will be at various locations to help people with their trips on Feb. 20 and 21.
Community Transit is reducing service because of low revenues due to the economy. The agency is pursuing new funding options during the State Legislative session.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Trip Planner Has Feb. 20 Info
Community Transit's online Trip Planner has been updated with the 2012 service change information, making it possible to plan a bus trip for Feb. 20 or later.
This is the latest in our series of information milestones surrounding the Feb. 20 service change.
Bus Plus books have arrived and will be placed on buses beginning this afternoon. They will likely be a hot commodity. If you find your bus has run out, let the driver know.
We are asking riders to take only one book to help save on printing costs. Reduced print runs, promoted through the "Reduce, Re-use, Re-read" tag on the books, has saved more than $100,000 over the past two years.
This is the latest in our series of information milestones surrounding the Feb. 20 service change.
Bus Plus books have arrived and will be placed on buses beginning this afternoon. They will likely be a hot commodity. If you find your bus has run out, let the driver know.
We are asking riders to take only one book to help save on printing costs. Reduced print runs, promoted through the "Reduce, Re-use, Re-read" tag on the books, has saved more than $100,000 over the past two years.
Monday, January 9, 2012
New Schedules Online
The new bus schedules effective Feb. 20 are now online at the Community Transit website.
This is the piece of information many riders have been waiting for since the Board of Directions made a service change decision last September. With the schedules, riders will be able to see what times their bus will run, and how their transit connections might work once service has changed on Feb. 20.
Meanwhile, integrating the new schedule information with our online Trip Planner is a more complicated project, so you cannot yet plan a trip for Feb. 20 using that tool. That update will be complete in early February. That trip planning tool is the same one our customer information staff use, so until early February they will not be able to plan complex trips for after the service change.
In early February, Bus Plus schedule books will also be available on buses. Those books contain the print version of the schedules that you can now get online.
Last week, more detailed service change route information was made available online and on buses, and now schedules are available. Later this week, staff will begin an outreach effort to make sure riders are aware of the upcoming changes and answer questions. Community Transit staff will be at the Canyon Park Park & Ride this Thursday during the afternoon commute hours, then they will be at Edmonds Community College on Jan. 18 and Everett Station the morning of Jan. 19, weather permitting.
Riders with web access can get information easily through the Community Transit website. Discussions about the service change are going on here on the blog and on our Facebook page. Specific questions can always be sent to riders @ commtrans.org or asked via phone at (425) 353-7433 (RIDE).
This is the piece of information many riders have been waiting for since the Board of Directions made a service change decision last September. With the schedules, riders will be able to see what times their bus will run, and how their transit connections might work once service has changed on Feb. 20.
Meanwhile, integrating the new schedule information with our online Trip Planner is a more complicated project, so you cannot yet plan a trip for Feb. 20 using that tool. That update will be complete in early February. That trip planning tool is the same one our customer information staff use, so until early February they will not be able to plan complex trips for after the service change.
In early February, Bus Plus schedule books will also be available on buses. Those books contain the print version of the schedules that you can now get online.
Last week, more detailed service change route information was made available online and on buses, and now schedules are available. Later this week, staff will begin an outreach effort to make sure riders are aware of the upcoming changes and answer questions. Community Transit staff will be at the Canyon Park Park & Ride this Thursday during the afternoon commute hours, then they will be at Edmonds Community College on Jan. 18 and Everett Station the morning of Jan. 19, weather permitting.
Riders with web access can get information easily through the Community Transit website. Discussions about the service change are going on here on the blog and on our Facebook page. Specific questions can always be sent to riders @ commtrans.org or asked via phone at (425) 353-7433 (RIDE).
Monday, October 17, 2011
Viaduct Closure Could Delay Later Commuter Buses
By Tom Pearce, Public Information Specialist
While Community Transit does not operate bus service on the Alaskan Way viaduct, there are 110,000 reasons a nine-day closure of that structure starting Oct. 21 could impact the agency’s service. Each day the week of Oct. 24-28, there could be 110,000 cars forced onto city streets instead of their regular trip along the viaduct.
The City of Seattle expects delays of about five minutes to cross downtown on city streets from all that extra traffic. In Community Transit’s case, those five minutes will add up, literally. Many Community Transit commuter buses make their first trip through the city, then return for a second, third and even fourth trip. That’s a five-minute delay each trip. And that doesn’t account for other potential delays – heavy traffic, accidents, traffic signals. We expect delays of 20 minutes or more on some of our later trips due to the closure.
So what’s a commuter to do? Here are a few suggestions:
• Try to take an earlier trip, before those delays have a chance to pile up.
• Look at other Community Transit routes. Several routes go to more than one transit center, offering several alternatives to a destination.
• If you travel with an ORCA card, you can ride a bus to one transit center, then transfer to a local bus to get to where you parked without paying extra.
• Talk to your boss about flexing your schedule or even working from home.
• Consider taking Sounder. Trains should not be impacted by the viaduct closure, and buses connect Sounder with several transit centers.
The viaduct closure will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21. It will allow crews to demolish the southern mile of the viaduct and attach the remaining portion to the new Highway 99. The Washington State Department of Transportation expects to work to be completed by 5 a.m. Monday, Oct. 31.
Of course, all the media hype about our own Northwest "Carmageddon" could influence enough people not to drive their cars downtown that week, and things won't be so bad. That's reason enough to watch the morning traffic report and check our online Rider Alerts to see how things are going during the closure. With some advance planning and flexibility, we’ll all get through this.
While Community Transit does not operate bus service on the Alaskan Way viaduct, there are 110,000 reasons a nine-day closure of that structure starting Oct. 21 could impact the agency’s service. Each day the week of Oct. 24-28, there could be 110,000 cars forced onto city streets instead of their regular trip along the viaduct.
The City of Seattle expects delays of about five minutes to cross downtown on city streets from all that extra traffic. In Community Transit’s case, those five minutes will add up, literally. Many Community Transit commuter buses make their first trip through the city, then return for a second, third and even fourth trip. That’s a five-minute delay each trip. And that doesn’t account for other potential delays – heavy traffic, accidents, traffic signals. We expect delays of 20 minutes or more on some of our later trips due to the closure.
So what’s a commuter to do? Here are a few suggestions:
• Try to take an earlier trip, before those delays have a chance to pile up.
• Look at other Community Transit routes. Several routes go to more than one transit center, offering several alternatives to a destination.
• If you travel with an ORCA card, you can ride a bus to one transit center, then transfer to a local bus to get to where you parked without paying extra.
• Talk to your boss about flexing your schedule or even working from home.
• Consider taking Sounder. Trains should not be impacted by the viaduct closure, and buses connect Sounder with several transit centers.
The viaduct closure will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21. It will allow crews to demolish the southern mile of the viaduct and attach the remaining portion to the new Highway 99. The Washington State Department of Transportation expects to work to be completed by 5 a.m. Monday, Oct. 31.
Of course, all the media hype about our own Northwest "Carmageddon" could influence enough people not to drive their cars downtown that week, and things won't be so bad. That's reason enough to watch the morning traffic report and check our online Rider Alerts to see how things are going during the closure. With some advance planning and flexibility, we’ll all get through this.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Open Government 2.0
Warning: This blog post is about technology. That means: it is way over my head, and maybe yours, too. But really, we’re 10 years into the 21st Century. Guess we gotta go techie sometimes.
I spent two days last week in Seattle at a conference called “Open Government 2.0.” The concept is that governments at all levels have all sorts of data and information that the public could use to participate in, influence and understand government. Beyond that, idealists in the room hope that technology might help create a whole new way of governing in the 21st Century.
The West Coast has many leaders in this effort. For city government trying to make data available, see Seattle's data port. Portland just launched an “apps contest” so local developers can help put city data to use. Check out their new iPhone app, which helped increase reports of graffiti from 10 to 228.. British Columbia officials are still excited about the success of their Facebook “You Gotta Be Here” campaign for the Olympics.
Like many conferences, the real value was in meeting and speaking with the people in attendance. Mukilteo City Councilwoman Jennifer Greggerson was there, and took Community Transit service to the event. See her Tweets about the conference (with link to her blog), here.
As is often the case, the lawyer in the room was a bit of a wet blanket – no offense to the very informative Ramsey Ramerman, Everett’s assistant city attorney. He pointed out that social media can create important public records and even public meeting issues that must be considered by governments and elected officials.
For those of you who know enough to be fans of One Bus Away – which provides access to King County Metro (and now Pierce Transit) bus information, you’ll be jealous to hear that I met the mastermind himself, Brian Ferris. Even though Community Transit doesn’t have real-time bus information (yet), he’d like us in the fold.
But everything is complicated when your data is not standardized. That was a big message of the conference, and one that drives home the value of Google Transit – not the application itself, but the fact that it uses standardized schedule data (General Transit Feed Specification) which can be reused in so many ways, by so many people. Michael Keating of the Open Planning Project is working to use GFTS data and open source programming to create an “open trip planner” for transit. Not surprisingly, one of his partners in that effort is the trailblazing Bibiana McHugh and Portland TriMet (which worked with Google to develop the GTFS).
I also talked to Linda Thielke of King County Metro. She seemed a little disappointed not to have any snow events this winter after Metro developed all sorts of new communication plans to improve on last year’s efforts. They have an “Eye on Your Metro Commute” blog to post peak-hour rider information. They also added an email/text alerts system similar to what we have had at Community Transit for almost three years.
My take-away from the conference is this: Technology is a powerful tool, but not an end in itself. Both are important to remember.
I spent two days last week in Seattle at a conference called “Open Government 2.0.” The concept is that governments at all levels have all sorts of data and information that the public could use to participate in, influence and understand government. Beyond that, idealists in the room hope that technology might help create a whole new way of governing in the 21st Century.
The West Coast has many leaders in this effort. For city government trying to make data available, see Seattle's data port. Portland just launched an “apps contest” so local developers can help put city data to use. Check out their new iPhone app, which helped increase reports of graffiti from 10 to 228.. British Columbia officials are still excited about the success of their Facebook “You Gotta Be Here” campaign for the Olympics.
Like many conferences, the real value was in meeting and speaking with the people in attendance. Mukilteo City Councilwoman Jennifer Greggerson was there, and took Community Transit service to the event. See her Tweets about the conference (with link to her blog), here.
As is often the case, the lawyer in the room was a bit of a wet blanket – no offense to the very informative Ramsey Ramerman, Everett’s assistant city attorney. He pointed out that social media can create important public records and even public meeting issues that must be considered by governments and elected officials.
For those of you who know enough to be fans of One Bus Away – which provides access to King County Metro (and now Pierce Transit) bus information, you’ll be jealous to hear that I met the mastermind himself, Brian Ferris. Even though Community Transit doesn’t have real-time bus information (yet), he’d like us in the fold.
But everything is complicated when your data is not standardized. That was a big message of the conference, and one that drives home the value of Google Transit – not the application itself, but the fact that it uses standardized schedule data (General Transit Feed Specification) which can be reused in so many ways, by so many people. Michael Keating of the Open Planning Project is working to use GFTS data and open source programming to create an “open trip planner” for transit. Not surprisingly, one of his partners in that effort is the trailblazing Bibiana McHugh and Portland TriMet (which worked with Google to develop the GTFS).
I also talked to Linda Thielke of King County Metro. She seemed a little disappointed not to have any snow events this winter after Metro developed all sorts of new communication plans to improve on last year’s efforts. They have an “Eye on Your Metro Commute” blog to post peak-hour rider information. They also added an email/text alerts system similar to what we have had at Community Transit for almost three years.
My take-away from the conference is this: Technology is a powerful tool, but not an end in itself. Both are important to remember.
Friday, March 19, 2010
High-Tech Dreams Meet Budget Reality
The creation of this blog was included in the Social and Electronic Communication Plan developed by Community Transit staff last year. So was a mobile-friendly website and the sharing of our schedule information with Google for use in the private company’s Google Transit tool (we’d also make that schedule data available to the public and other programmers).
Unfortunately, it takes both staff and financial resources to turn high-tech dreams into reality, and both are in limited supply right now. Due to budget cuts and a hiring freeze, our IT department has 18 percent fewer staff positions now than a year ago. That played heavily into the elements and timeline approved in our final electronic communication plan: low-tech blog now, mobile web and Google Transit later.
But all is not lost. Many agencies that use Google Transit don’t have their own trip planners. We do. The Trip Planner on our website is a valuable tool that has many of the same features as Google Transit - and some additional ones that we customize. Our regional Trip Planner incorporates King County Metro, Community Transit, Sound Transit, Everett Transit, state ferry and Pierce Transit information all in one place (only two of those partners are now on Google).
By having our own Trip Planner, we are able to highlight related rider alerts, include fare information and link to route schedules. We update landmark names, include holiday schedules and provide a one-stop-shop of transit info. We plan to make several small but significant improvements to the Trip Planner functionality this year, and your suggestions are welcome.
Unfortunately, it takes both staff and financial resources to turn high-tech dreams into reality, and both are in limited supply right now. Due to budget cuts and a hiring freeze, our IT department has 18 percent fewer staff positions now than a year ago. That played heavily into the elements and timeline approved in our final electronic communication plan: low-tech blog now, mobile web and Google Transit later.
But all is not lost. Many agencies that use Google Transit don’t have their own trip planners. We do. The Trip Planner on our website is a valuable tool that has many of the same features as Google Transit - and some additional ones that we customize. Our regional Trip Planner incorporates King County Metro, Community Transit, Sound Transit, Everett Transit, state ferry and Pierce Transit information all in one place (only two of those partners are now on Google).
By having our own Trip Planner, we are able to highlight related rider alerts, include fare information and link to route schedules. We update landmark names, include holiday schedules and provide a one-stop-shop of transit info. We plan to make several small but significant improvements to the Trip Planner functionality this year, and your suggestions are welcome.
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