Tag: transit

Cairo Transit Mapping

Transport for Cairo (TfC) is mapping the city’s complex public transit systems—both formal and informal. The group’s ultimate goal isn’t just to draw a paper map of the system, but to eventually build mobile transit apps. All the data they’re collecting feed into the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS), the standard format pioneered by Google to openly share public transit information among transit agencies and application developers. GTFS currently works for networks that run on fixed schedules, but TfC hopes to adapt the standard so that it works with Cairo’s informal transit system, as well.

Sidewalk Labs Flow

Sidewalk Labs announced that it is building “Flow,” a digital platform that seeks to address the real-time transit problem and more. Flow will aggregate and analyze mobility data from a great number of sources—including Google Maps, Waze, municipal data, and eventually, remote traffic sensors—to identify what’s causing congestion and which areas need what kind of service. This won’t just be software for transit officials to lord over, though. Flow will also have a public, outward-facing element in the form of digital kiosks that provide real-time transit information and wifi, similar to those currently in beta testing by Link NYC. That way, “citizens without a smartphone or data plan use new dynamic mobility services”. The kiosks will also include remote sensors that anonymously gauge parking availability, traffic flow, and rider demand. Eventually, those sensors could be used to test and regulate autonomous cars.

Subway Parking

Late at night and on weekends, the MTA stores a significant number of subway trains underground. Some of these trains are parked in dedicated underground subway yards, while others are stored on express tracks and tracks that were originally built as part of subway routes that were never completed. Here are 7 below-ground overnight homes for the city’s subway cars.

  • 137th Street Yard
  • 174th Street Yard
  • Church Avenue
  • Fourth Avenue Express Tracks
  • Jamaica Yard Approaches
  • The Grant Layup
  • City Hall Lower Level

Contactless Fares

Transport for London riders can now cover their fares on trains and buses with a tap of their smartphone. That’s a nice step forward for merry old England, but the truth is it’s just the latest development in a bigger push toward contactless fare payment on transit systems around the world. Fare cards are on the outs. It’s not just busy travelers who stand to gain from the convenience—transit agencies and even city mobility networks at large are expected to benefit, too.