Trip Planner
Esaura Alcantara: I'm Esaura Alcantara and you're listening to an "In the News" podcast on TransitTrax, New York City Transit's podcast service.
(Sound: horn honking)
Esaura Alcantara: Need to get somewhere by subway or bus, but you don't know which to take? Don't worry. Trip Planner - New York City Transit's online travel itinerary service - gets you there. Greg Bullock, Senior Director of Budget and System Administration, explains.
Greg Bullock, Customer Services: Trip Planner is a web-based tool that lets users obtain 5-borough subway and bus travel directions as well as schedules. In addition, Trip Planner provides close to real time service alerts for unplanned disruptions and service advisories for planned disruptions due to construction like track work.
Esaura Alcantara: Trip Planner is available 24 hours a day - all you need is a computer to access it at tripplanner.mta.info.
Greg Bullock, Customer Services: Trip Planner is very easy to use. Just enter your origin and destination which could be an address, intersection or landmark, then select the date and time. You can also minimize transfers or travel time; you can select walking distance from a quarter a mile to up to one mile.
(Sound: "Stand clear of the closing doors please.")
Esaura Alcantara: Trip Planner has proven to be a popular tool and customer feedback is positive. John Paul Basile, VP of Marketing and Sales for the Sports Museum of America, is one of our happy customers.
John Paul Basile, Sports Museum of America: I've been using Trip Planner - it's been great. It's saved me at times; I've had to find my way. We're here in Lower Manhattan, which is kind of, in my world, it's the hub of all the subways. You know the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, N, R. What else is down here? J, M, Z, they all, you know, end down here or have an origination down here. And it's so easy to find your way into any part of the city by quickly using Trip Planner.
Esaura Alcantara: And you don't have to be a local. Trip Planner is a tool that helps visitors too.
John Paul Basile, Sports Museum of America: I'm a transplant, so I've moved out to New Jersey, I don't use it as much. I use it exclusively for work at this point, but I love it so much and I found it so valuable that I incorporated it into our website for everyone who comes to visit. Not only we New Yorkers who, again, use public transportation vociferously, but we're really encouraging all the folks from out of town - the 50 million people that are visiting New York City every year to come visit us and use public transportation. And that's what we're giving them - we think it's the best and the easiest form of information and help. And so far so good, most people have been using it.
(Sound: typing at a keyboard)
Esaura Alcantara: In addition to step-by-step travel and walking directions, you can also see the city with our new and improved street maps. Now powered by Microsoft® Virtual Earth™, you can see aerial, 3-D, or landscape views of the street before you reach your destination!
Web users can now enjoy the convenience of using Trip Planner right from their personalized home page. New York City Transit now offers a widget application on users' iGoogle account, or any web page they may own or operate.
The widget was developed in house by Transit IT programmers.
Sohaib Mallick is Senior Director of Applications/Internet Technologies.
Sohaib Mallick, Internet Technologies: Using the widget, customers will have all the function and options available on the main Trip Planner start page, including setting options for walking distance, departure or arrival times, travel mode, and accessibility. The widget will also display a graphic indication when service alerts are in effect as well as a link to the MTA page listing weekend service disruptions due to construction.
Esaura Alcantara: And even if you aren't near a computer, you can still get detailed travel information with Trip Planner On the Go, which you can access from your PDA or web-enabled cell phone. For Blackberry® users, we're about to unveil a Blackberry shortcut
We're always looking for ways to make Trip Planner better. To name a few, we'll be adding points of interest, we'll show you bus routes alongside subway routes, and soon you'll be able to save all your past searches.
So if you haven't tried Trip Planner yet, be sure to check it out at tripplanner.mta.info.
For TransitTrax, I'm Esaura Alcantara. Thanks for listening, and thanks for riding with New York City Transit.
Back to Transittrax Main Page
Esaura Alcantara: I'm Esaura Alcantara and you're listening to an "In the News" podcast on TransitTrax, New York City Transit's podcast service.
(Sound: horn honking)
Esaura Alcantara: Need to get somewhere by subway or bus, but you don't know which to take? Don't worry. Trip Planner - New York City Transit's online travel itinerary service - gets you there. Greg Bullock, Senior Director of Budget and System Administration, explains.
Greg Bullock, Customer Services: Trip Planner is a web-based tool that lets users obtain 5-borough subway and bus travel directions as well as schedules. In addition, Trip Planner provides close to real time service alerts for unplanned disruptions and service advisories for planned disruptions due to construction like track work.
Esaura Alcantara: Trip Planner is available 24 hours a day - all you need is a computer to access it at tripplanner.mta.info.
Greg Bullock, Customer Services: Trip Planner is very easy to use. Just enter your origin and destination which could be an address, intersection or landmark, then select the date and time. You can also minimize transfers or travel time; you can select walking distance from a quarter a mile to up to one mile.
(Sound: "Stand clear of the closing doors please.")
Esaura Alcantara: Trip Planner has proven to be a popular tool and customer feedback is positive. John Paul Basile, VP of Marketing and Sales for the Sports Museum of America, is one of our happy customers.
John Paul Basile, Sports Museum of America: I've been using Trip Planner - it's been great. It's saved me at times; I've had to find my way. We're here in Lower Manhattan, which is kind of, in my world, it's the hub of all the subways. You know the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, N, R. What else is down here? J, M, Z, they all, you know, end down here or have an origination down here. And it's so easy to find your way into any part of the city by quickly using Trip Planner.
Esaura Alcantara: And you don't have to be a local. Trip Planner is a tool that helps visitors too.
John Paul Basile, Sports Museum of America: I'm a transplant, so I've moved out to New Jersey, I don't use it as much. I use it exclusively for work at this point, but I love it so much and I found it so valuable that I incorporated it into our website for everyone who comes to visit. Not only we New Yorkers who, again, use public transportation vociferously, but we're really encouraging all the folks from out of town - the 50 million people that are visiting New York City every year to come visit us and use public transportation. And that's what we're giving them - we think it's the best and the easiest form of information and help. And so far so good, most people have been using it.
(Sound: typing at a keyboard)
Esaura Alcantara: In addition to step-by-step travel and walking directions, you can also see the city with our new and improved street maps. Now powered by Microsoft® Virtual Earth™, you can see aerial, 3-D, or landscape views of the street before you reach your destination!
Web users can now enjoy the convenience of using Trip Planner right from their personalized home page. New York City Transit now offers a widget application on users' iGoogle account, or any web page they may own or operate.
The widget was developed in house by Transit IT programmers.
Sohaib Mallick is Senior Director of Applications/Internet Technologies.
Sohaib Mallick, Internet Technologies: Using the widget, customers will have all the function and options available on the main Trip Planner start page, including setting options for walking distance, departure or arrival times, travel mode, and accessibility. The widget will also display a graphic indication when service alerts are in effect as well as a link to the MTA page listing weekend service disruptions due to construction.
Esaura Alcantara: And even if you aren't near a computer, you can still get detailed travel information with Trip Planner On the Go, which you can access from your PDA or web-enabled cell phone. For Blackberry® users, we're about to unveil a Blackberry shortcut
We're always looking for ways to make Trip Planner better. To name a few, we'll be adding points of interest, we'll show you bus routes alongside subway routes, and soon you'll be able to save all your past searches.
So if you haven't tried Trip Planner yet, be sure to check it out at tripplanner.mta.info.
For TransitTrax, I'm Esaura Alcantara. Thanks for listening, and thanks for riding with New York City Transit.
Back to Transittrax Main Page
