getting transit information

[Daniel Haran]

Hi all,

While waiting for my city's answer, I'm looking at how accessible
transit data is for various Canadian cities.

For various cities, I would like to compile:
-whether an online route planner is available.
-bus stop locations (GIS-friendly file formats would be good)
-complete schedules in an easily parsed ("read") format.

If you would like to help, let me know what city you are in, and how
your city's transit operator reacted to your request for the above
information.

The objective is to build free / open-source route planner software,
and convincing municipalities to open their transit data. If you are
interested in building such a beast, let me know.

Cheers,

Daniel.

[Tracey P. Lauriault-2]

Daniel Haran wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> While waiting for my city's answer, I'm looking at how accessible
> transit data is for various Canadian cities.
>
> For various cities, I would like to compile:
> -whether an online route planner is available.
>  
http://www.octranspo.com/Intro_Trip_Planner.htm
> -bus stop locations (GIS-friendly file formats would be good)
>  
http://www.octranspo.com/maps_menue_systemMap.htm (not necessarily friendly!
> -complete schedules in an easily parsed ("read") format.
>  
http://www.octranspo.com/mapscheds/stopscheds/BusStop_menuE.htm  +  
http://www.octranspo.com/maps_menue.htm

not in an easily parsed menu!
> If you would like to help, let me know what city you are in, and how
> your city's transit operator reacted to your request for the above
> information.
>  
just got it off the web, if you cannot work with what i send & need
something better let me know and i will call!
> The objective is to build free / open-source route planner software,
> and convincing municipalities to open their transit data.
i like it!  Keeping it up to date seamesslessly would be something amazing!
> If you are
> interested in building such a beast, let me know.
>  
not code smart like you - ;)

> Cheers,
>
> Daniel.
>
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> http://civicaccess.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss_civicaccess.ca
>
>  

[Daniel Haran]

Thanks Tracey!

On 4/3/06, Tracey P. Lauriault <[hidden email]> wrote:
> > For various cities, I would like to compile:
> > -whether an online route planner is available.
> >
> http://www.octranspo.com/Intro_Trip_Planner.htm

Hmm... it's functional, even if its usability isn't the best.

> > -bus stop locations (GIS-friendly file formats would be good)
> >
> http://www.octranspo.com/maps_menue_systemMap.htm (not necessarily friendly!
> > -complete schedules in an easily parsed ("read") format.
> >
> http://www.octranspo.com/mapscheds/stopscheds/BusStop_menuE.htm  +
> http://www.octranspo.com/maps_menue.htm

>From that second link, "Text-format Winter Timetables" at the top left
is the ticket :)

> > If you would like to help, let me know what city you are in, and how
> > your city's transit operator reacted to your request for the above
> > information.
> >
> just got it off the web, if you cannot work with what i send & need
> something better let me know and i will call!

I don't see an easy way to extract bus stop information from the
website. Can you find out if they would release that?

> > The objective is to build free / open-source route planner software,
> > and convincing municipalities to open their transit data.
> i like it!  Keeping it up to date seamesslessly would be something amazing!

Real-time route planning? That would be very nice indeed!

http://www.octranspo.com/mapscheds/560/5601000.htm
"The busiest times are cold mornings in January ... that's when "560"
receives over 5,000 calls per hour!"

Yep- cold mornings are the time I hate having to wait for a bus; I
want to be able to get out of the door at the very last minute.
Imagine software that knew what time you travel, and that would
pro-actively alert you when buses were late. I'm sure others will find
or suggest more uses, but waiting in the cold is my pet peeve.

Thanks for helping :)

Daniel.

[Robin Millette]

On 4/3/06, Daniel Haran <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> While waiting for my city's answer, I'm looking at how accessible
> transit data is for various Canadian cities.
>
> For various cities, I would like to compile:
> -whether an online route planner is available.
> -bus stop locations (GIS-friendly file formats would be good)
> -complete schedules in an easily parsed ("read") format.
>
> If you would like to help, let me know what city you are in, and how
> your city's transit operator reacted to your request for the above
> information.
>
> The objective is to build free / open-source route planner software,
> and convincing municipalities to open their transit data. If you are
> interested in building such a beast, let me know.

Not sure how freely the data is available, but I used to have an Palm
application called MetrO with data on over 300 of cities:

http://www.nanika.net/Metro

No GIS, but topology, schedule and interesting spots to visits are all included.

--
Robin 'oqp' Millette : http://rym.waglo.com/
Président de FACIL : http://facil.qc.ca/