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Feds want to create a ‘national transit map’
Isn’t all of that information available on-line? Sounds, to me, like another boondoggle: duplication of effort to hire more federal workers.
William D Hayes. Much of the information is online but it is like trying to assemble a very large puzzle without a diagram. As for additional government expense perhaps with Federal oversight a lot a duplication and waste could be removed at a savings to the taxpayer.
J.M. Zweerts retired BN, KJRY, PNWR, BLET 416
Sounds like they are trying to re-invent the “Official Guide of the Railways”
@Roger, except the Official Guide was printed on paper, this a online “Official Guide” if you will, all transit agency information on one website…viewable on national level.
Also is one would compare the transit maps of Chicago, L.A., New York, and even Miami there is no standard version of all the maps. This could be a great way to consolidate and standardize maps for agencies to refer to in an emergency, which could include access points and mileposts.
@William D Hayes, I had the same thought (e.g., on Google Maps and Earth). But when I look at various real time bus & rail location services that use transit agency data, I see they’re a lot more complete than Google. What’s lacking is stitching all of it together nationally, as Jan Sweerts says.
I am not understanding the need for this on Federal level, especially since most of the Tiger and Transit Projects of the last decade, are pushed down to State and Region to implement, manage, and operate. Agreed sounds like duplicate efforts…
I had an idea several years go to see if I could research a way to travel across the country on public transportation, and not using Amtrak at all, just local bus, commuter rail, and metro systems. Trying to find all those different transit systems in each area was quite a chore (at least it was several years ago) so a central place would have been convenient. Still want to try that trip some day. I almost had a complete Chicago to Boston trip mapped out, with a few miles of walking between a couple of gaps in service areas. Going west had a lot bigger gaps to deal with, obviously.
Great idea for friends or enemies.
Many of the colleges and universities in the northwest have this information online as a part of the alternative transportation for students.