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TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE


March/April 2004

MTC Takes 511 Traveler Information System to the Next Level
Commuter’s Best Friend Offers Free Driving-Time Estimates On the Phone and On the Web
511
The Bay Area’s award-winning 511 Traveler Information System — available toll free by calling 511 or on the Web at www.511.org — is adding new features to put even more information at the fingertips of motorists, public transit riders, carpoolers/vanpoolers and bicyclists.
MTC recently unveiled a new 511 Transit Web Site with an enhanced version of the popular TakeTransitSM Trip Planner, which creates customized itineraries. And March 2004 saw the introduction of a new phone and Web service known as 511 Driving TimesSM, which harnesses intelligent technology to inform drivers how long it will take to reach their destinations.

MTC and Caltrans have been installing overhead antennas along freeways that can measure traffic speeds via FasTrak® electronic
toll transponders affixed to the windshields and dashboards of 400,000-plus vehicles in the Bay Area. Combining FasTrak® feedback with information from Caltrans’ system of roadway-embedded loop detectors, the 511 Driving TimesSM feature debuted on a select number of routes, with the rest of the Bay Area’s freeways and bridges to be phased in over the next few years.

Enhanced Traffic Features
In addition to point-to-point driving times, the 511 phone service now offers a whole range of enhanced traffic features, including a faster voice response system; more flexible navigation that allows callers to request conditions on various freeways without having to go back to the traffic conditions menu; and more detail about incidents (such as location by city) and slowdowns (with actual traffic speeds in Driving TimesSM corridors).

“The Bay Area is the first metropolitan area in the United States to offer this level of detail on traffic conditions through a toll-free 511 system,” said MTC Deputy Director Ann Flemer.

511Internet-savvy motorists also can check a new 511 Driving TimesSM page at the Traveler Information Web Portal, located at www.511.org, before they get behind the wheel.

Meanwhile, MTC’s popular Transit Web Site has been upgraded and relocated to the 511 Web Portal. The site’s centerpiece is an updated version of the online TakeTransitSM Trip Planner, which generates personalized itineraries with schedules, fares, time estimates, transfer instructions and destination maps.

Now incorporating key data for some 20 Bay Area transit operators, the Trip Planner will be expanded this spring to include the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, SamTrans, Santa Rosa CityBus and the Golden Gate Transit bus network (Golden Gate ferry schedules are already in the Trip Planner database).

Marketing to Spur Usage
Spearheaded by MTC at a cost of $38 million over six years, the phone and Web-based 511 Traveler Information System relies on a partnership among MTC, the California Highway Patrol, Caltrans, dozens of the region’s transit and paratransit operators, and the Regional Rideshare Program.

About half of the 200,000 or so calls a month handled by 511 are for traffic information. Callers requesting to be connected to one of the region’s public transit agencies account for another quarter, with the rest split between ridesharing, bicycling, airport and parking information, and other selections from the 511 smorgasbord.

Call volumes are expected to grow in the months ahead as MTC kicks off an aggressive marketing campaign for the 511 Driving TimesSM service to let Bay Area drivers know about this powerful new tool that can help them solve the mystery of how long it will take to get from point A to point B.

“We’re putting more effort into advertising — and radio ads in particular — than for any other initiative in MTC history,” noted Flemer.

“We want consumers to think about 511 whenever they leave their home or office.”
— John Goodwin

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