New option for AATA trip planning

You won't find a link to it on the AATA site but Google maps has added Ann Arbor to the list of cities for which you can get transit directions as well as driving directions. It's also pretty hard to tell by looking at the page that you're there but this seems to be where you start: Google Transit Ann Arbor

Perhaps one reason AATA isn't really promoting this is that it has its own trip planning site. In not-very-extensive testing, each site seems to have its own quirks, but they definitely have advantages over using the printed route maps and timetables. Even experienced transit users can find it a little daunting to figure out a new route with them; for people who are considering taking the bus for the first time, trying to make sense of them can be a big barrier. Any new options that help potential transit users become actual transit users can't hurt efforts to increase ridership.

no bus service on memorial day

From the AATA:

The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority will not operate
regular fixed-route bus service, A-Ride paratransit, or Good As Gold senior
taxi services on Monday, May 28, 2007 in observance of the Memorial Day
holiday. Regular bus, paratransit and senior taxi services will resume on
Tuesday, May 29.



Passengers may take advantage of AATA's Holiday Ride shared-ride taxi
service on Monday for just $5 a person. Seniors and persons with
disabilities with an AATA identification card may ride for $2.50.



The Holiday Ride taxi service operates only within the city limits of Ann
Arbor. To schedule a Holiday Ride trip, call 734.528.5432.



AATA will close its offices at 2700 South Industrial Highway and the Blake
and Ypsilanti Transit Centers on Monday, May 28, in observance of Memorial
Day.

The three facilities will re-open for business on Tuesday, May 29.

Expect continued erratic postings while the housekeeping staff settles into their new home. We'd love to hear from anyone interested in conributing posts to cfa2 as well.

speed traps on sidewalks?

A link from Ed's blog pointed us to a list of speed traps in Ann Arbor.

The interesting point, from a carfree perspective, is that some of the traps include police vehicles parked on the sidewalk and in bus loading zones.

Huron Parkway Ravine. They sit on the sidewalk along the concrete tieback walls.
Fuller near Mitchell Field. They do it Cali style and sit in the bus loading zone.

While cycling on the multi-use path on the north side of Fuller, our path has occasionally been blocked by a police car sitting in the driveway of the community pool.

Has anyone else run into a situation like this? Is it necessary for police to block NMT facilities in order to enforce speed limits?

blue bus etiquette

Laura sent us a link to some advice on being a good rider at the Ann Arbor Crier.

Above all else, follow two simple rules: Do not be in the way, and pretend everyone on the bus is your grandma. Use these as your rubric for courtesy and you’ll notice fewer Death Stares in your direction.

Students are one of the more neglected carfree groups (along with disasbled folks, homeless people, and the elderly population) on our site. While we are trying to correct this oversight, it is nice to see others picking up our slack, helping to define a local bus culture.

The list of tips focuses on being a polite rider. Among the 13 suggestions, this is our favorite:

When it’s 4:30 and the older University employees are leaving their jobs, laden with briefcases and coats, give them your seat. They need it more than you do. The same goes, of course, for pregnant women, kids and the elderly. Relevant stops: the entire medical campus.

Good manners start on the bus.

carfree queries: diy traffic light changer

[One of our guilty pleasures in keeping house at cfa2 is browsing the site statistics. The idea is that by reviewing referrers and search terms, we can reach our target audience more effectively while, at the same time, expand that audience. That hasn't really panned out so far, but we still enjoy the harmless voyuerisn of finding out where visitors come from and what kinds of search terms bring them here. You'd be surprised how many posts come from following a Google lead recent keyword activity. We're trying out this new, semi-regular "column" to share the inspiration, confusion, and belly laughs that some of these referring search terms bring us.

A curious Googler inquires: "diy traffic light changer"

Our post on triggering traffic signals on a bike must have led you here. We haven't yet received any success stories based on our advice, but the info may be helpful if you're on a bike and getting impatient in the left turn lane.

If you are a cager looking to beat the system and shave 15 seconds off of your commute, we discovered that there is a whole industry providing infra-red signal that will turn a red light green. But don't get your hopes up. These devices are intended only for authorized vehicles; whether on foot, a bike, or a car, using a traffic signal preemption transmitter breaks Federal and State laws.

This may be of interest to Ann Arbor transit geeks, since the AATA has previously considered implementing a signal preemtion system to help keep buses on schedule. The impact would probably be slight (and thus not worth the hefty price tag), but combined with express service from Park & Ride lots, it may attract a following. Hopefully that following consists of more Park & Ride bus passengers and not just automobiles that follow express buses to make the lights.

ten ways to encourage a carfree commute to your downtown ann arbor business

Bicycle Colorado just posted 7 Steps to a Bicycle-Friendly Workplace. Their list of general tips on encouraging biking to work inspired us to write up a list of simple ways businesses in downtown Ann Arbor can encourage carfree commuting.

1. Sign up for the go!pass

2. Post locations and rental info on bike lockers

3. Hand out pedestrian maps, bike maps and bus schedules

4. Offer to ride (bus or bike) with other employees to get them started, or start a bike commute support group.

5. Support local biking and walking organizations and events (WBWC, AABTS, Eco-Ride, Crop Walk, Breast Cancer walk, etc.)

6. Update HR policies to encourage walking, biking and bus riding (parking policy, biking & walking incentives, Emergency Ride Home program, etc.)

7. Invite the getDowntown program to contribute to your company newsletter or talk to employees about their commuting options

8. Provide better biking facilities (covered bike parking, showers, lockers, etc.)

9. Invite a local bike shop to do a brown-bag seminar on bike maintenance.

10. Sign up for the Commuter Challenge and encourage employees to participate in other events throughout Curb Your Car Month

If you've got other ideas, add them to the list via a comment!

megabus to chicago

Ypsidixit got the scoop on the Megabus expansion to Ann Arbor. Megabus has been serving Detroit for a while now, and it has been a mystery to us how they could drive right past a town full of cheap-skate college students without picking up a few fares. They seem to have gotten wise to the potential jackpot and have added Ann Arbor to the 14 cities in their greater midwest service region.

But don't start packing your bags for Pittsburgh just yet. From our initial research, the Ann Arbor bus only goes to Chicago. Sure you can ride to Chicago and transfer from there (with potentially long lay-over), but there is no direct service from Ann Arbor to Toledo, Cleveland, or Columbus. In fact, even though the route map shows Ann Arbor as a stop on the way to Detroit, you can't book a seat from A2 to Detroit on the website!

Starting April 2, Megabus offers morning and afternoon service in both directions. The Ann Arbor stop is at the UofM Park and Ride lot on South State, so you can take a UofM commuter bus or AATA bus to the rendez-vous. The trips takes 4 hours and 40 minutes, and costs $15 O/W based on our queries, though the website says fares as low as $1 are possible for early bookings of low-demand seats.

Compared to Amtrak service, the Megabus fare is about $5 lower than even the weekly specials on the train, and the ride time is similar. But Megabus limits passengers to one bag and doesn't have power outlets seats. Compared to Greyhound service, the fare is about half and the trip takes two hours less on Megabus. Despite its unfortunate name, Megabus could offer carfree Ann Arborites a good Chicago-bound alternative to Amtrak, especially if you want to leave town in the morning.

nancy shore on life on the aata board

Nancy already talked about carfree life of SOS consumers. Now she chats with us about her experience on the AATA board and her goals for AATA.

cfa2: what it is like to sit on the AATA board?

Nancy: Well, it’s really interesting. The Board definitely doesn’t speak with one voice, and we often have divergent opinions about the system. I really like sitting on the Board because I feel like I really get a sense of what is going on with the bus system in the community and also how that bus system fits with other types of transportation, including walking and possibly rail. We also talk a lot about financial matters (budget cuts, etc.) and how they are going to impact our service and it really gives me a perspective on the complexity of running a bus system, especially in a state that is not doing so well financially and is not putting mass transit and other forms of transportation in it’s funding priorities. I am still relatively new to the Board, but I do feel like it’s a really good group of people who would like to see the AATA grow and change to fit the needs of this community.

cfa2 What kinds of issues are being discussed right now?

Nancy: The kinds of issues that are being discussed are financial issues related to service. This includes how to deal with Ypsilanti (they are not going to be able to pay for service this fall, so what do we do about that?), as well as how to go about purchasing more hybrid busses. Other issues being discussed are if we should go countywide with bus service and what will that look like. We are also talking more and more about how the bus system fits with other forms of alternative transportation.

cfa2: So, the county-wide service sort of fell through, according to the News. I bitched about it a little on the website. What's do you think?

Nancy: I knew that article was going to case some misperceptions. Basically the issue is that if we put the county issue on the ballot tomorrow, the pollsters believe that we don't have enough "yesses" to win. But that in no way means we are not going to do a millage. I think right now the Board defintely sees a need for us to expand service, but is still not sure what that might look like. We might do a millage or we might try to expand service in another way. I would love for people to give us their thoughts and ideas on how we can expand service to a larger area.

cfa2: What are your personal goals are for AATA?

Nancy: In terms of my personal goals on the AATA, well for one I would definitely like to speak on behalf of those who depend on the bus service to get around. I also take the bus quite frequently and see it as a public good—something that everyone should use for many reasons including environmental impacts and the fact that the bus is a community space where you might interact with people you might never see in another setting. I would like to advocate for improving bus service and for thinking about how the bus system fits in with walking and biking to get people around in the best way possible. In the end, I don’t think driving cars is the best way to get people around and I think the AATA is a great system that could get even better. I want to be a part of that.

cfa2: As far as advocating for improved service, is this one of those issues that all board members don't agree on? I would think everyone associated with AATA would want improved service.

Nancy: I think all Board members would agree on improving service, so I guess you got me there. I guess I am not sure we all have the same idea of how to improve that service. Does it mean more park and ride lots or does it mean longer bus hours? Does it mean trying to make the buses run more efficiently, or put more buses on the road? I think the improvements I would most like to see would be expanding the amount of time high use buses are out there (meaning expanded evening and weekend hours), improving service to Ypsilanti, and created some express routes.

cfa2: Can you give me any specific examples of making transit fit better with biking and walking?

Nancy: I sure can. I usually take the #4 bus from the Blake Transit Center to the Ypsi Transit Center. The route is primarily on Washtenaw. Let's say I wanted to get off the bus early on my way home from work (and I do sometimes) and bike the rest of the way. If I decided to get off on any of the many stops across from the County Rec Building or Medford and Manchester I would face a: no sidewalk to bike on and b: a real challenge in feeling safe biking on Washtenaw. If I wanted to walk, it would be even worse. I have had to cross Washtenaw from the stop across from Medford and Mancester before and it is really dangerous. There is no cross walk until you get over by the Bearclaw Coffee place.
I have had the same problem taking the #4 in Ypsi township to Tuptim Restaurant. The day I walked from the bus stop to meet my friend at Tuptim it was raining so the ground was totally muddy and again their were no sidewalks so it was quite unpleasant.
Since most bus trips start as bike or walking trips, it makes sense to see how they interact with on another. I think if there is a bus stop somewhere, there should be an effort to make it easy for a person walking from that bus stop to get around safely. And I think if that person has a bike, there also needs to be some consideration of that fact.
I think Ann Arbor does a really good job with bike lanes and sidewalks, but it can do much better. The same is true for the bus service. I am hoping during my time on the AATA Board I can help the cause.

Nancy Shore on carfreedom and homelessness

In an effort to branch out in terms of content (read as: "we're running out of tips!"), we decided to contact people related to local carfree issues to ask a few questions. You're not going to find the well-balanced queries and teetering style available in interviews elsewhere, but we were inspired by the content that came out of our first effort.

Nancy Shore is the Community Relations Coordinator at SOS Community Services. She is also the most recent addition to the board of the AATA, so she has a a unique perspective on carfree life. Today, she's talking about the carfree experience of SOS consumers. Coming up soon, we'll ask her about life as an AATA board member. You can read more about her on the totter.

cfa2: We'd like to get a better idea of what carfree life is like for SOS consumers. Also, how does SOS assist and advise on transportation concerns of their clients (clients, customers, or consumers)?

Nancy: First of all, we do call the people we serve consumers. Many, many, many of them, including the families in our shelter and transitional housing program don’t have cars. And this is not a choice on their part to be environmentally friendly, etc. They just simply cannot afford to have a car.
For the families in our family shelter and in our transitional housing (which are apartment units in both Ypsi and Ann Arbor) getting around is a constant issue. We actually provide our own vans to shuttle the children to day care and the families to various programs. In addition to that, many of the families rely on the buses to get around. This can become a real issue in Ypsilanti where buses run less frequently and where there are fewer routes. It’s also a challenge because unlike Ann Arbor, Ypsi has even fewer basic amenities downtown, so it might take quite a while to take a bus to get to the grocery store and get back. I think one of the biggest challenges for many of our carfree families is that they have to go to so many places and it’s really hard to get to all of them by bus in a timely manner. They might have to go to a job and in addition might have to drop off their kids somewhere else to go to daycare and then repeat the whole thing again in the evening.
It is definitely easier for our families to be carfree in Ann Arbor because the buses run more frequently and are often close to where they live. But I know it’s not easy, and I know if many of the families could have a car, they would. But SOS does offer van transportation, which makes it more convenient for the families. And the bus system is certainly important to the families we serve.
For the families who are not homeless, but very poor (those who come in and receive food and other items from us), I know transportation is also an issue. Especially in Ypsi, it’s just harder to get around without a car. Some families have parents that are working full time and going to school, or have families where the parent is working two jobs. Relying on walking or busing to meet all these needs can be very challenging.
I think what a lot of it bowls down to is that when people do not have cars, they find other ways to get around including walking and busing. But it is not so much of a choice as something they have to do.

cfa2: carfree ann arbor is based on the idea that it is possible and not completely miserable to live without a car. Of course we usually assume that you do have a home to get back to. Certainly, being without a home makes transportation tough. Are there some specific things that make carfree transportation more difficult for SOS consumers?

Nancy: I recently spoke to the case managers that deal with many of our consumers. I think the specific things that make carfree transportation tough are:
1. The fact that many of our consumers live in one city and work in another. Many of them live in Ypsilanti, but work in Ann Arbor, so they have to deal with longer bus rides (sometimes up to one hour each way) to get to where they need to go. If many of our consumers could work and live in the same community, I think it would be much easier for them to go car free.
2. Many of our consumers with children find it very hard to take them on the bus. I really need to look at some of the tips you have on carfree to see if there are some things that might make the ride more pleasurable for them. Some of our consumers have 5 kids, so it's quite daunting for them to think about taking the bus.
3. Many of our consumers don't have laundry facilities, so they have to take a bus to go to a laundromat and then get the clothing back to their apartment. This can definitely be a challenge.
4. I would say the biggest challenge is just lack of time. It takes too long for many of our consumers to take the bus everywhere. But I think that is a reflection of our need to enhance the bus system more than a reflection of them not liking to take the bus.

cfa2: Similarly, are there any carfree tips that apply especially to SOS consumers? We're fishing for tips on cfa2 that staff or consumers might be recommending. Do you ever use cfa2 as a resource at SOS?

Nancy: I think it would be really, really important for me to research this further. I think mostly staff and consumers see not having a car as a hindrance, but it doesn't have to be! I really, really want to emphasize to you that I am a strong carfree advocate. I will definitely look deeply into your website for appropriate recommendations. I could also see the possibility of a "living carfree" workshop for our consumers to see if that would help them get interested in the carfree idea.

cfa2: Do you see any particular points of connection between SOS consumers and other by-choice carfree people?

Nancy: In terms of connections between SOS consumers and other by-choice carfree people I think there are many. Some are the need to trade tips on how to deal with large loads of laundry or groceries. I think many of our families could use some tips to make their lives easier. I think another point of connection is the advocacy piece. If people who are using the system see where it can be improved, they are in a better position to make changes. I also think that anyone who is carfree no matter what the reason becomes a member of a certain community. I think if those who are carfree can do what they can to support others who are carfree, that would also be helpful. So if someone is struggling with a bunch of bags on the bus, to offer to help. Or if someone looks stranded on a bad side of the street, to try to help them get across. One of the things I have learned while working at SOS is that our consumers need to be part of a supportive community. If carfree by choice people can do their best to help carfree by need people, I think it makes this world a better place.

no county bus service... for now

AANews announces that AATA will not be persuing a millage to expand service to the entire county.

A consultant found that 54 percent of Washtenaw County voters would support a .5 mill tax to extend AATA service countywide. Without at least 60 percent support among voters at the outset of a campaign, a strong informational effort would be needed, the study said.

We'll asume for now that it is rational to abandon the idea even though more than half of taxpayers were willing to support it without any prior marketing. Still, wouldn't part of this informational effort be made by local government and employers? If this study was based on a go-it-alone marketing campaign, then AATA needs to work on their networking skills. There is all kinds of info we'd like to see from this report, but top of the list is what township and village governments think of the idea. We are more interested in what the 21 "key opinion leaders'' said in their interviews than the 6% shortage on public opinion. If local leaders want this to happen, they can contribute to the effort to make it happen.

But AATA is going for a softer sell:

"We are not interested in putting forward a proposal that the community is not interested in supporting," Nacht said.
AATA is "not close to offering the community any specifics," he said.
...the study included that there is little awareness of AATA outside its immediate service area.

With the usual caveat of potentially pot-stirring journalism by the News, doesn't that come off as stupid? 46% of respodents don't support expansion of a service they don't know anything about but AATA is not willing to explain it to them.

At the same time, AATA is dealing with enough problems in the existing service area. It looks like Ypsi won't be able to pay their part of the bill soon and we need to keep those lines running. Maybe this isn't the best time to expand.

On the brighter side, the report finds that, "the buses are clean, safe and usually on time." Between that, Ridetrak, and the fabulous Link, our buses are rollin' pretty smooth.

guerrilla Link schedule

We were just lamenting the drift away from useful tips towards comments on AANews articles that now make-up the bulk of our postings. Despite our best efforts to come up with new resources and suggestions for carfree life in Ann Arbor, we're running out of ideas. But in our darkest hour, Ed Vielmetti has picked up the torch, creating a simple flickr post giving estimates for a bunch of bus stops for the Link service.

The comments in his image show his best estimate of Link arrival times by the minute, as well as nearby destinations, parking options, and wireless sources. We have been researching ways to represent this kind of info with map mash-ups or other tricks. While we were pondering and tinkering, Ed made it happen. Thanks, Ed!

bikes on buses: good marketing or excessive luxury

Paul Dorn of bikecommutetips posted this pic in his post on intermodal travel.

While Paul claims that the upright position is an efficient use of space, note that two seats are folded up to make space for the bike. As a bus rider, this looks like one passenger taking up three seats. Accomodating bikes on buses is great, but if we had to stand in the aisle while a wet bike taking up two seats dripped on our pant leg, our sympathy for all-weather cyclists would fade fast.

On the other hand, as a bike commuter, we have to admit that in-bus parking does give us a slight case of transit envy.

We love the front-mounted bike racks on AATA buses. We've never had a problem using them or seen any damage to our bikes. Besides, it would be a pain in the rear to get a bike into the bus. Does any one else see a reason to move bikes inside the bus?

laptop housekeeping on the bus

We're always on the look-out for ways to keep occupied/entertained/educated/productive/satiated during a bus ride. For those who cary a laptop, a bus commute would be a great time to check email, catch up on the latest carfree ann arbor tips, and all the other Internetty items on your to-do list. Unfortunately, AATA buses don't offer internet service yet. Some cutting-edge bus commuters may be taking advantage of GPRS connections via PDAs and smart phones, but many will have to wait for AATA wireless bus hubs or (more likely) the Wireless Washtenaw project in order to access the Internets on the bus.

That said, there are all kinds of manual maintenance and gtd (getting things done) tasks from which Net connetions tend to distract us. A 20 minute bus ride may be the perfect Web-free time to focus on a little virtual house cleaning. commutesmarter.blogspot.com posted a list of Internet-less tasks that help keep your commute productive. They include updating itunes playlists, deleting old files for disk space, and catching up on RSS feeds. We would add calendar and task list updates, prepping email and blog posts, and sorting and labeling pictures as other mundane but necessary tasks that fit nicely into a bus ride.

Of course, there are limitations to how productive bus seat typing can be. Sunlight makes the screen hard to see, bumps and sudden stops could send a laptop flying, and the twitching elbows and wandering eyes of other passengers might make you think twice before booting up on the bus. But we would, as always, be interested to hear how you take advantage of the free time on the bus, with or without technical aids.

hooray for the link!

AATA's beloved, purple, younger sibling to regular bus service, the Link, is catching on with downtown residents and visitors. AATA announces that the Link set record-high ridership in January, as well as breaking the single-day record in December.

The freeze-bomb that dropped on the city in the middle of January certainly helped boost ridership, but the trend seems to be sticking as February shows four days of +1,900 ridership. The Link is finally getting the love it deserves. Considering that it is free, frequent, and easy to spot, one wonders how it took so long for Ann Arbor to catch on.

According to Chris White at AATA,

"The Link provided five times as many rides last month as it did in January, 2004, the first year of operation. These figures are quite impressive, since the service was fine tuned more than a year ago and now runs fewer hours, but carries many more riders."

Hopefully, a continuing increase in ridership will encourage AATA to expand Link service into the evenings.

skis on the bus

We have unconfirmed reports from Ypsidixit that you can bring your x-countries skis with you on the bus*. Now that there is a little snow on the ground, this may actually come in handy. Note that they haven't added a ski rack or anything, but storing them under your seat appears to be acceptable.

"kudos to people who eschew snow-whining/excuses and instead embrace the beautiful snow and enjoy it."
Amen to that!

*your milage may vary, and is likely directly related to the friendliness of your greeting to the driver!

headphone cord wrapping tips

Whether you ride the bus, walk or ride a bike, mp3 players are a great addition to a carfree journey. Unless, that is, you are spending half the trip trying to untangle a rat's nest of headphone cord. Lifehacker posted a video from instructables on how to wind headphones so they don't get all tangled. As usual, the comments have a bunch of (possibly better) additional suggestions.

Most important is not to wind the cord too tight or bend it too much. You'll end up breaking the wire eventually.

AANews round-up

Our housekeeping staff fell asleep at the wheel while the local rag covered a few items of interest to the carfree community.

Ridetrak
We mentioned this in December and January, so the News' announcement is a bit behind the times [insert your own snarky comment on "old media" here]. However, it is nice to find that riders are actually making use of this tool and that it seems to work for them (we were skeptical about the usability of this feature when it first came out).

a serious culture change
The biker banter that we've heard has been pretty positive about this article. Sure, it overlooks the dangers of cycling on the sidewalk, but at least the News is creating a discussion on the topic of road-sharing culture, right? The point of the article, that infrastructure alone will not encourage walking and biking, is a fair criticism.
However, instead of offering examples of other aspects of change, the editorial's advice dwindles at this point. They sum up by saying that, "We'll need a serious culture change, one in which bike riders are viewed as having a legitimate place on our roads." Yet they fail to identify any implementable goals or policies that might bring about this serious cultural change By the end of the article, we were left feeling hopeless about the future of NMT in Ann Arbor instead of inspired.
We also have a gripe with the over-played caveat they tack on that, "That respect cuts both ways, though - cyclists also need to respect the rules of the road, and too often that's not the case."
We're taking the hard line here. Unlawful traffic behavior by a few cyclists should not lead to a less safe environment for all cyclists. This line of argument seems to condone the flawed and dangerous concept of some motorists that cutting off cyclists, running them off the road, not giving sufficient clearance when passing, throwing garbage at bikers as they pass by is justified because some cyclists roll through stop signs or disobey other traffic laws. The News makes the mistake of equating a culture of law with a culture of respect and decency, and they completely disregard the "might is right" attitude that dominates interaction between large, heavy, and fast-moving automobiles with bicycles.

it's cold
AANews declares the recent temperature drop to be a sort of cosmic equalizing to make up for any joy Michiganders may have gotten out of a balmy December. This weather should be taken seriously by carfree folks. Especially those with kids, who lose body heat quickly. Stay warm and keep trips short or stop along the way to warm up. Of course the bus is usually a toasty option. And dress appropriately, as the article points out:

The CDC recommends that in extreme cold, adults and children should wear a hat; a scarf or knit mask to cover face and mouth; sleeves that are snug at the wrist; mittens (warmer than gloves); water-resistant coat and boots; and several layers of loose-fitting clothing.

They're warm, they're stylish, and they're statriotic. As we've said before, wear mittens and drink Michigan beer!

the path less traveled: the bus

In previous reports, HD described his journey by foot and by bike. In his final installment, Homeless Dave catches the bus and relates his experience to us.


Installment Three: the bus (AATA)

Route 12B--which makes a loop west on Liberty, north along Maple, then
east into downtown again along Miller--offers a stop less than a
minute from my house There's a bus scheduled to service that stop at
5:22pm, which gets me where I'm going by 5:35pm, which is a bit early
to arrive for my 6:00pm appointment. But the next bus doesn't get me
there until a scheduled time of a few minutes after 6:00. My strategy
was to take the earlier bus, hope it was running late (nope, arrived
exactly on time by my watch) and disembark a couple of stops early to
kill off the extra time.

When I climbed aboard, I joined 12 other riders. The early-twenties guy seated across from me had a vinyl record album in a plastic bag sitting on his lap. Through the plastic I could make out the words 'Blue Frog' in the title. A young mother boarded at the stop after mine. She had a little red-haired girl in tow whose job it was to carry the bus pass. On entering the bus, the girl shrieked, "I have it, I have it, I have it" and tried to escape down the aisle before it could be swiped. I was prepared to block the unruly red-head's path if necessary, but the young mom managed to catch up to her and wrestle the pass away. After swiping, the red-head was hoisted by the back of her jacket into her seat. By the time we reached Maple Village, everyone originally on the bus at my stop had gotten off.

I made the return trip was via 12B as well. Routewise, 12A would have been a better choice because I would have been delivered to within a minute of my house. Schedule-wise, I would have had to wait around 50 minutes versus the 20 minutes for the 12B. This meant that I had to disembark at Miller and 7th and walk from Miller down to Liberty on 7th.

On the bus, there was a woman holding a box with a new 13-inch combo TV-VCR unit. I suspect she might have been coming from Big George's.

Along the walking segment of the trip home, at the intersection of
7th and Huron, the street was littered with a strange collection of
stuff. Motorists were just driving around the debris. After snapping
the picture I cleared the street and arranged the items neatly on the
corner.

UM student shuttle to basketball games

"Parking down there is such a pain," Liner said. "This time I parked my car outside of East Quad and then waited at the closest bus stop. It seems like a good system."

It's a little surprising to find that students actually drive to Chrysler Arena, but it is nice to see another example of UM promoting carfree alternatives for short driving trips. LSA Student Government will be providing bus transport from select dorm locations for at least a couple more games. Hopefully they will continue the program throughout the season. It's unclear whether non-UM folks are allowed on the bus, but we doubt anyone is checking.

AATA's RideTrak goes mobile

A while back we got the tip on AATA's new RideTrak internet service. Choose a route at the AATA website, and it gives you the current location and status (early, on-time or late by X minutes) of the bus. While we were excited about finally getting access to the info, we mostly grumbled about how the service could be better. We, and many others, contacted AATA through their comment form to throw a bunch of well-intended, if demanding and uninformed, suggestions at them. High on that list was mobile access to the updates.

Well, ask and ye shall receive. The front page of theride.org now announces that riders can direct browsers on their PDAs and mobile phones to mobile.theride.org for mobile access to bus updates. We haven't tried out the mobile edition yet, but are impressed with what seems like a pretty fast response to rider requests by AATA. If you have tried the mobile version of RideTrak, let us know how it worked in the comments.

We're curious whether enough people use web-enabled phones and are willing to pay connection fees to make this a usefull for a significant portion of current and potential riders. If the AATA is still looking for ways to expand their reach, maybe offering a call-in automated service would be better for some.

In any case, we're impressed with the initiative that our transit service is showing in expanding access to route information. Thanks, AATA!