1. WiFi trial comes to San Francisco’s BART trains
Wireless internet connectivity could give transit a major boost over driving (surfing and driving don’t mix). Especially on transit systems geared to the upper middle classes like commuter rail. Wifi on bus might not have the same appeal.
2. Contactless payment trial goes live on San Francisco’s BART
Of course other cities have had this for years in Japan, and this improves upon contact-based systems like Octopus in Hong Kong, Oyster in London, by using cell phones. Unfortunately there are no standards for using cell phones for contactless payment in the US, so while it is technologically feasible, it might not be adopted due to a lack of standardization.
Day: 2008-02-02
Network resilience (or lack therof) Internet Style
Apparently, a number of important internet backbone cables serving India and Iran have been severed recently: It’s 2008 — Do You Know Where Your Internet Cables Are?.
This is similar in structure to highway network links being severed, except imagine there were only 3 links into the country, and they all failed in one week. Might this be Non-random?
3D London Tube Map
Londonist: 3D London Tube Map (using Google maps and a geographically accurate map).
Legible London
Via diamond geezer: Legible London is an attempt to create a standardized pedestrian navigation system for central London, replacing and improving upon the 33! existing systems. It is an interesting read (pdf) and I think would be valuable in places not quite as complicated as London (i.e. almost everywhere except Tokyo, and may be there too).
By making walking easier, the planners hope to reduce reliance on public transport, which is excessively congested, in part due to the schematic tube map which distorts distances.
If they are successful, they may create a system as iconic as the Underground maps and logo.
Of course the trick with any of these things is not just first installation, but keeping the system live, rather than just a decaying artifact from 2007. But it would seem quite valuable, it just has no source of income for support. (advertising or sponsorship would be a natural, but would be potentially be an ugly blight).
A camera to catch HOV lane cheaters
From the Evening Standard: Camera that can catch lone drivers in car-sharing lanes.
This has always been a difficult problem for authorities, as enforcement has in the past required human eyeballs. Researchers have experiment with infra-red to determine the heat profile inside the car, but that was apparently problematic. But in the home of the panopticon, cameras (with appropriate recognition systems) will be able to identify the number (and apparently race) of passengers in the vehicle.
Do it yourself traffic engineering
Via Boing-boing, a man who decided to roll his own … Man Jailed For Creating Crosswalk, Vows More
“MUNCIE, Ind. — Whitney Stump didn’t like watching drivers ignore the stop signs at the intersection outside his home, so he asked the city to paint crosswalks there.
When the city said no, he made one himself. And the city wasn’t appreciative.”
David Levinson, Transportist 