The Metropolitan Transit Authority dragged itself into the 90s (okay, the 00s...) today by adding a text alert service to update you on potential stumbling blocks in your NYC subway journey. Great idea, in principle. Silicon Alley Insider has already unsubscribed from the service, saying that the frequency of the messages (11) and the fact that the alerts were not SMS character limit friendly made it more of an annoyance than a helpful service.
I've been using
First Capital Connect and
Tube Alerts for as long as I've been working in London. More often than not, they add time to my journey by telling me a line is severely delayed (when it isn't and I end up taking a longer route), or not updating anything leaving me standing on the platform wondering where my bleeping train is. The last FCC alert I got was on the 31st of October, telling me that Finsbury Park station was closed - helpful, sure. But FCC haven't alerted me to the line problems this morning on the Hertford Loop, the cancellations on Monday on the Great Northern Route or last week's travel chaos because of overhead line problems. So, a great service in theory but a poor service in practice. Also, you can't specify a route (i.e. Kings Cross to Knebworth), but a larger line. This means irrelevant texts as well - I'm really not interested that trains aren't calling at Peterborough, or any stops in between Kings Cross and home. In fact, it's like unwrapping a surprise gift on the platform. The train's not calling at any stops until Welwyn North? Score!
TfL alerts are a bit better. I can specify my normal morning and evening journey, as well as an alternative Piccadilly Line route if the morning commute gets jammed on the Victoria or Bakerloo lines. Again, the problems are both accuracy and timing; if Kings Cross closes because of overcrowding, I don't get a text message about it and instead learn about the closure when the train mysteriously carries on to Highbury and Islington. I
do understand that there are a lot of considerations running such a complex public transportation system, but if the station matrices can be updated and I can get API access for iPhone applications that are relatively up to date (i.e. within 5 minutes), why can't TfL automate their systems to pick it up? Thankfully, it's not a character limitation issue like the MTA's; I get a single text message (if I get one, har har) and a quick update. The system is much more robust (and less 1998 web design-y), allowing you to add multiple routes and multiple times, and although you're restricted to two text alerts per day, you can always opt to receive e-mail alerts. You can turn your alerts off when you go on holiday, saving you a wake-up call at a particularly gruesome hour to remind you of what awaits you upon your return to real life, and a particularly expensive roaming bill.
The most bizarre text alert I received was a youthful congratulatory message from the British School of Motoring shortly after I passed my driver's test. Geared at text-savvy 17 year olds and not old farts like me who can't transfer their full Canadian drivers license over to a British one (at least without being Americanly restricted to automatic transmissions), it incentivizes you to sign up your mates so that you can all drive round like boy racers with full driving licenses.
Text alerts are a great idea in practice, but of all the major public transport networks involved in it, none of them seem to have got it bang on. Either you can't choose your routes, you get too few or too many texts, and the alerts aren't relevant to you or up to date for your journey. Far from relying on text messages, I usually check the FCC, TfL and BBC websites conveniently bookmarked (I make no excuses for my nerd behavior), which can sort of kind of help me out in planning my journey. At the end of the day, I usually find out about a Tube delay, train line problem or massive football match overcrowding (damn you, Arsenal!) the olde fashioned way. Stuck on the platform, ears plugged by
soothing tunes and smiling. If there's nothing I can do about it, I try to get on with it. I wish I could provide this sage advice to some of my fellow passengers...
...and just as I'm about to press post, TfL saves itself:
