Press Releases

For Immediate Release

TRAVELER INFORMATION TELEPHONE NUMBER LOGS IN ONE MILLION CALLS

CONTACT:

Catalina Alvarado
510.817.5783

OAKLAND, Calif., Jan. 27, 1998 . . . Bay Area residents have made one million calls to 817-1717 in search of information to take some of the stress out of their daily commutes. Known as TravInfo^TM, 817-1717 began offering current traffic conditions, public transit schedules and other vital information to regional travelers in September 1996.

The single telephone number -- available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays -- does not require an area code when dialed from any of the Bay Area's five area codes. Callers have a wide range of choices when they dial 817-1717 (817-1718 for the hearing impaired who use TDD/TTY devices). A series of enhancements to the menu since the number debuted allows callers to easily get up-to-the-minute traffic reports for most highways; connections to public transit services; construction updates on major Caltrans projects; as well as street closures due to flooding in rainy weather.

For those looking to avoid driving alone, TravInfo^TM provides a direct connection to about two dozen bus, rail and ferry operators for route and schedule information, as well as to ridematching experts who can set up carpool arrangements. Information also is provided about special transit services for disabled travelers; park-and-ride locations; and bicycles -- which bridges and transit services permit them, and where to get more information.

"817-1717 has become the number to dial to learn about not only traffic incidents but how to get around road closures due to accidents, natural disasters or special events," said Emily Van Wagner, TravInfo^TM operations manager. "It also helps commuters during other unexpected disruptions to their normal travel routes. During the BART strike last September, for example, some 100,000 calls were made to TravInfo^TM in the first few days of the strike, nearly double the number of calls TravInfo receives in a typical month."

Developed and administered by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission -- the transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area -- the traveler information telephone number can be dialed anywhere within the region with no area code needed. In most cases, the call is a local one and incurs no toll charges.

The traffic information reported through 817-1717 is derived from a number of sources, including Caltrans' Transportation Management Center, which monitors Bay Area highways through roadway sensors, closed circuit television and the like. The California Highway Patrol's computer-aided dispatch system and the Freeway Service Patrol roving tow truck fleet's automatic vehicle location system all provide further eyes and ears to report roadway problems.

TravInfo^TM is part of a federally funded field operational test to make comprehensive, real-time information about current conditions in the region's complex surface transportation system available to the public, thereby allowing travelers to make more informed decisions about where and how to travel. TravInfo^TM operates as a public/private partnership under MTC's management.

MTC is the regional transportation planning, funding and coordinating agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area.