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A comment on An interactive exploration of Boston's subway system. Parent comment

Re:An interactive exploration of Boston's subway system by danielweber on Tuesday June 10, 2014 @10:45AM (#7872777)
There are so many ways that IT could improve existing public transportation. When I was in the Boston area I wished for a service that would text me in the morning and say the next inbound trains are M,N,P minutes away. Depending on N I could stroll to the station or hustle to make it on time.

Even when I'm in a top-20 city (instead of a top-5), I could still be persuaded to take the bus if IT systems make it easy and convenient.

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Re:An interactive exploration of Boston's subway system by incision on Tuesday June 10, 2014 @12:07PM (#7873363)
>'...if IT systems make it easy and convenient.'

Believe it or not, there are people working for these systems who are both willing and capable of making that happen. Unfortunately, there's a trump card of paranoid ass-covering which routinely squashes such aspirations:

Terrorism

I worked with a transit agency was not just capable of sending texts, but had a surprisingly slick mobile-ready, web app for displaying realtime, animated schedules in 2008.

Someone got up in a meeting and said 'What if terrorists use that information?'

Today, six years later they don't have so much as a reliable API available to the public.

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Re:An interactive exploration of Boston's subway system by furyg3 on Wednesday June 11, 2014 @05:20AM (#7877078)
I wonder: If we would have known terrorists would target subway systems in the future, would we have abandoned their construction?
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Re:An interactive exploration of Boston's subway system by jghn on Tuesday June 10, 2014 @04:23PM (#7875078)
The MBTA does this these days although its main use is w/ the busses, where it has been a godsend. Since the bus tracking apps arrived busses went from something I actively avoided taking to using all the time to navigate the spokes in the system for exactly the reason you state. I can watch from my computer or phone until just before a bus is coming in and hurry on out to the stop.
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