Last year, a developer in his early 20s, Brian Gilham, created TTC Updates, a service to deliver updates about delayed trains, detoured streetcars and any other TTC disruptions. Riders could get reports delivered to their cellphones via Twitter.
On the site, a disclaimer reads: “TTCupdates is not affiliated with the TTC. I mean, well, please don’t sue me.” Gilham is referring to the TTC’s nasty reputation for suing those who use its name, logo or subway map to create transit guides, mashup maps or other tributes.
“It used to be a lot tougher for developers, but things are slowly improving,” says Gilham.
The TTC has never integrated Gilham’s service, which he provided free of charge.
As for the Google Transit map, the arrival time is apparently approaching. TTC chair Adam Giambrone says the data the search engine company would need to build the map – routes, times, schedules in technically accessible form – simply did not exist and therefore couldn’t be shared. Putting data in a shareable format and displaying it cost $2 million.
But there’s more. Giambrone says he’s reluctant to partner with a third-party company. This is, after all, publicly financed information – Toronto can’t just go making deals with multinational corporations. What if Google were to change its mind and charge for the map?
Giambrone bristles at the suggestion that the TTC isn’t open. “The TTC Website may not be as sexy as other sites, but it scores high in accessibility.”
By January 2010, Toronto will have the most wired transit system in the world,” he says. Expect “a pretty impressive suite of applications” that will make an outing on the TTC easier to plan, like an SMS message service that will alert riders when to expect the next two vehicles at any given stop.
Looking forward to seeing all of that! BTW, BC's Translink has recently started SMS message service to get next 5 times at each stop. Its a great service. But I think wireless providers are loving it even more at .15 cents per message.
http://www.nowtoronto.com/news/story.cfm?content=171041