Transit Hacks: Maine Mini-Maker Faire 9/8/12

Transportation Hacks
by
CarFree Maine

Presented at the Lewiston/Auburn Mini Maker Faire on 9/8/12

Sunday, September 9, 12
Intro. My name is Andrew Jawitz, I’ve been working on transportation issues for the past couple years under the
banner of CarFree Maine. I’d like to present today on what I like to call “Transportation Hacks”, because I think we’re
living in a moment where a number of developments, both positive and negative are disrupting basic assumptions we
have all held regarding how we get around in Maine.

I’m going to brieﬂy go over what some of these disruptions are and then concentrate on the opportunities they create
for individual innovators especially.

http://onlyzerocarbon.org/sources_co2.html

Over the past 4 years the United States has made incredible strides in both reducing dpendence on foreign oil and on fossil
fuel combustion as a whole. In the transportation sector innovations in fuel efﬁciency, plug-in hybrids, and electric battery
storage. But by concentrating technological innovation solely within the auto sector we’ve barely scratched the surface of
transportation challenges.

Citizens, planners and civic leaders have recognized that dense, urban, walkable cities offer a far more efﬁcient and
sustainable lifestyle by cutting out the car commute altogether.

Maine Just
Wasn’t Built For The Problem
Conventional
Public Transit
Wisdom
With Mass
Transit In
Maine Is
“There Isn’t
Any Mass”

+ - =
1. Public Transit only works in large cities
2. Mainers Don’t Want To Give Up Their Cars
3. Maine is a mostly Rural State
4. Transit Infrastructure is too expensive
5. The Government Is Too Inefﬁcient

But what happens to Rural States Like Maine?
These are statements I’ve heard from both state lawmakers, and even “urbanists” who tend to equate any region with a
“low” population density with suburban sprawl.

Roads? Where we’re going,
WE DON’T NEED ROADS!!!

Sometimes in Maine the model for the future can be found in the past!

Technically, Maine WAS Built For Mass Transit!

Before the age of cheap oil and federally subsidized interstate highways, all those beautiful New England villages and quaint
downtowns were connected by a rapid transit system comparable to anything found in Europe!

Is it worth saving?

I’ve actually heard debates where planners and urbanists have even questioned the need to promote “Low Density”
communities at all! BTW... Is is just me...or has the word “rural” disappeared from the lexicon. Its either “Urban” meaning
“good” or “Suburban=Low Density” and every now and then “Rural” might appear as a replacement for “Impoverished”. But
the question remains “are rural communities solely deﬁned by population density”? Is there a value to preserving rural
communities and small cities?

Why is Transportation Important in Maine?
Monthly Transportation Costs Per Household
•Across America, households in the lowest 20 $1,000.00
percent income bracket spend about 42 percent of
their annual income on transportation
$750.00
•This burden is especially heavy during periods of
high energy costs, since residents of rural areas
drive about 17 percent more than than urban $500.00
residents.

•Rising gas prices have cut nearly one-third of the $250.00
potential growth in real disposable income, which
could have gone to creating more economic
activity within the economy, including the travel $0
and tourism industry -AAA Memorial Day 2011
Travel Forecast, IHS Global Insight May 19, 2011 Waldoboro, Maine Brunswick, Maine
Portland Maine Boston Mass

Average Family
Transportation Accomodations
Spending Budget in 15%
New England Memorial
Day Weekend 2011 Auto Transportation
Food and Beverages 39%
20%
Entertainment
9% Other
Shopping
15% 3%

These are some of the disruptions that are beyond our control. This is happening already.

The thought of living in a place which would require me to own a car ever
again gives me chills. Imagine being beholden to a 2,000 pound piece of
metal which sucks 15% of your income every month, makes you pudgy, and
does bad things to the environment.- CarFree Baltimore 9

Ages 55+
86% Under 35
Ages 35-44

74%
73%

Traveled to Maine in Personal Car 2010

➡ Millennials are choosing to drive less for The share of automobile miles driven by people
aged 21 to 30 in the U.S. fell to 13.7% in 2009
environmental reasons. from 18.3% in 2001 and 20.8% in 1995

The proportion of people aged 21-30 actually
➡ This group would drive even less if they could increased from 13.3% to 13.9%
ﬁnd good alternative sources of
20-somethings went from driving a
transportation. disproportionate amount of the nation's Sources KRC Research
10/2010,
highway miles in 1995 to under-indexing for
driving in 2009.
➡ Car ownership is prohibitively expensive Department of
Transportation
for many in this age group. Federal Highway
Administration's National
Household Travel Survey
Census data
October 2010 Study by KRC Research-

Even young tourists tend to drive less than their older counterparts.

Pick an industry, and you’ll find an internet or software company
that’s transforming it right now.
[Netscape founder Marc] Andreesen notes that we now have the
tools to transform nearly any industry -- he points to healthcare
and education as prime targets.
- Nick Grossman The Opportunity for Civic Startups Web 2.0 Expo 2011

craigslist | classifieds
apple | music, phones, cameras
amazon | books, retail
linkedin | recruiting
airbnb | hotels
google | direct marketing
netflix | videos
skype | phones
twitter | news

* All text and copy this slide - Nick Grossman The Opportunity for Civic Startups Web 2.0 Expo 2011

4. Hand in Hand with this “Urban Renaissance” has been the rise of so-called “Civic Hackers”. The idea of Civic
Hacking is to bring the same innovative energy found in a Tech Startup, to the public realm. This slide comes from a
presentation called “The Opportunity for Civic Startups” by Nick Grossman.

Pick an industry, and you’ll find an internet or software company
that’s transforming it right now.
[Netscape founder Marc] Andreesen notes that we now have the
tools to transform nearly any industry -- he points to healthcare
and education as prime targets.
- Nick Grossman The Opportunity for Civic Startups Web 2.0 Expo 2011

The tools now exist to transform any
institution
craigslist | classifieds
apple | music, phones, cameras
amazon | books, retail
linkedin | recruiting
airbnb | hotels
google | direct marketing
netflix | videos
skype | phones
twitter | news

* All text and copy this slide - Nick Grossman The Opportunity for Civic Startups Web 2.0 Expo 2011

4. Hand in Hand with this “Urban Renaissance” has been the rise of so-called “Civic Hackers”. The idea of Civic
Hacking is to bring the same innovative energy found in a Tech Startup, to the public realm. This slide comes from a
presentation called “The Opportunity for Civic Startups” by Nick Grossman.

Closed Model Platform Model

Mobile, web & other apps
API

Real-time Server

* This slide - Nick Grossman The Opportunity for Civic Startups Web 2.0 Expo 2011
This slide is from a non-proﬁt called OpenPlans (www.openplans.org) and it shows how an open transit data architecture
works in comparison to a closed-proprietary model.

“Tech for Transit: Designing a Future System” Latitude Research 2010
http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/nextamcity/22658/latitude-transit-study-results-part-two
“Transit Apps”are already having a signifiacnt impact on ridership as this study from the Sustainable Cities Collective
shows.

This is the brand new Trip Planner for Portland Oregon. Its hard to do a demo on a static picture, but its important to
explain why this is different from “Google Maps”.

It includes data from Google Maps, OpenStreetMap, and GIS Elevation data. Plus bikeshare, Zipcars and any other info
which may be useful... because its open source it is amazingly flexible and customizable in ways a proporietary platform could
never be without acheiving a total monopoloy. Most importantly it is MULTIMODAL... Trip Planners are limited by the data
they have access to, so you might be able to find the Portland MetroBus on Google, but you won’t find Concrod Trailways, or
Lewiston. It also takes into account bicycle pedestrian info, and bike/transit combos
On this little triangle you can move the circle around to make your preference.

So why don’t they appear on this map of cities covered by OpenTripPlanner? There are various reasons including scalability
and cost. We want to make these technologies more applicable for rural regions and small cities.

Lewiston-Auburn Citylink Ridership
30000
22500
15000
7500
0
2011 2012
February March
April May

So this great stuff is happening in Portland Oregon, and Boston. But what about Rural States Like Maine? It turns out
that the trends affecting transportation nationally are also affecting Mainers. Car ownership is down, while transit
ridership is up!

While Maine may appear as a big blank spot on the open data map, it certainly doesn’t mean we don’t have transit options.
All these logos represent transit services serving various communities in Maine. The problem? THEY AREN”T CONNECTED
TOGETHER!

MBTA “App Showcase”

So in a city like Boston, where riders can reasonably expect to go to any downtown bus, or subway station and expect the
bus/train to show up within a ten minute interval, these tools are handy... and the case could be made that they contribute to
an increase in ridership, the case could also be made that all in all transit “apps” are essentially an added amenity.

But in a rural state like Maine, where some services are limited to a single round trip a day... and may require multiple
transfers on top of that... Having access to accurate, usable, up-to-date information may mean going without fresh
groceries or missing an important medical examination for many. For others it may mean the difference between driving
60 miles a day, alone or for others still it may mean not coming to Maine at all.

Transportation
Citizens/Riders
Professionals

Then Operations

Planning Consulting Paying for
Scheduling Multimodal Fares
Interoperability
Maintenance Providing Public
Engineering Design Input
Procurement
Fundraising
Research

Maintenance Planning

Now
Consulting
Paying for
Engineering Fares
Multimodal
Interoperability Providing
Scheduling Public
Operations Procurement
Input
Research
Design
Fundraising

This brings us back to that Venne diagram I showed earlier... not to mention the diagram showing public employees... For a
region like Maine, where access to small-town government is still within reach for most residents... Open Transit Data can
go even further by allowing riders to participate in PLANNING decisions previously exclusive to professional PLANNERS.

Grassroots Transit?
2011 Ridership Totals

Ethan Allen NY-Rutland VT 49448
Vermonter (DC-St.Albans VT) 77783
Phil-Pitts 207422
Kansas City-St. Louis 186077
DC- Newport News 557528
DC-Lynchburg 162051
Adirondack (NYP-Montreal) 125239
Wolverine (Pontiac/Detroit-Chicago) 503290
New Haven-Springfield Shuttle 380000
Downeaster (Boston-Portland) 519000
Chicago-Indianapolis 37249
0 150000 300000 450000 600000

While ofﬁcial government agencies like MDOT have played a critical role in rebuilding Maine’s public transit infrastructure,
recent history teaches us that fundamental change is most likely to begin on the grassroots level. Even sectors requiring
enormous capital outlay, meticulous engineering and byzantine regulatory procedures like passenger rail became a reality in
Maine only after decades of tireless grassroots organizing by groups lof private citizens.
Today, more people ride the Amtrak Downeaster than live in the entire region between Kittery and Bath!

Identifying User Qualitative Research Methods
Prioritizing local knowledge
Needs Emphasizing quality of place

Civic Media
Civic Life
+Participatory
Media

Social Networking
Infrastructure/ online presence via
Memory wordpress, facebook,
twitter, vimeo,youtube,
Short Form tumblr, meetup, flickr etc...
Documentary Series Oral Histories/Interviews
Participate in national
Explores Historical transportation forums,
Interviews with local
Transportation Systems conferences
residents highlighting
and impacts on present mobility challenges on
and future systems individual level
Partner w/ with V.A,
Independence Assoc. and
African Diaspora Institute to
highlight transit equity issues
carfreemaine.org
Organizations like the Community Transportation Association are beginning to recognize that only evaluating rural
communities based on quantitative measurements like population density has serious limitations. They are just beginning to
explore techniques that evaluate “qualitative” value, like the role place may play in a given regions travel patterns. (Case in
Point Acadia National Park...) We’ve been advocating for similar methods and have been designing tools to facilitate both
quality and quantitative analysis.
As this approach does require field work. and field work is expensive... Possible solutions might be... Educational
Institutions... Time Bank...

“ Rural ITS Solutions Need
to Be More Flexible ” Federal Transit Administration Research

Evolution of Intelligent Transportation Systems for
Mobility Management and Coordination Serving
California’s Rural Frontier- January 2012

How to Avoid Pitfalls in ITS Innovations Deployed in a Rural Frontier
Community (pp21) -

MCTC agreed to review any write-up the Contractor saw best to meet their internal
needs for use-cases; however, with such limited MCTC staff, there was not time or
resource for a small frontier rural agency to undertake another time-consuming
complex use case document. This is one example of challenges the Contractor and
the agency could not resolve through this ITS project or through functional
prototyping. Similar ITS trip planner initiatives spent months to years developing
the use-case scenarios while user expectations and technological capacities are
changing so fast—as soon as the specifications are buttoned up, a new expectation
pops up. Future ITS projects may consider a modified approach to detailed use-
cases because technologies and user expectations are changing so rapidly.
Alternatively, as with the OpenTripPlanner project, a shared vision through on-
line collaboration brought a next generation of multi-modal trip planner to
production in just 12 months. OpenTripPlanner continues to evolve swiftly with
changes in technologies and user expectations.

19 OpenTripPlanner is fully deployed as a multi-modal trip planner for Tri-Met in
Portland, OR. For more information on various initiatives and projects, visit http://
openplans.org/projects/#transportation.FEDERAL

Future rural ITS projects should have clear, specific milestones that can be
accomplished in six to nine months. Each of these milestone tasks will roll up to
the larger project vision, with future data integration in-mind. This should avoid
the possibility that a project is lost in a litany of uncertain requirements, the
programming team is overwhelmed, or, worse, they find themselves unable to
succeed.

The federal government has finally started to take notice of rural needs over the past few months. This has been prompted
in part by fears of a “reverse white flight” phenomenon, where “Inner City” are now prime real esate, driving low income
populations further out into non-accessible areas. Some of these studies directly address the need for “Rural Transit ITS
Solutions”
Of these specific Rural challenges- “Demand Response” support in OpenTripPlanner and the status of cellular infrastructure.

How it will work- Desktop/Laptop
Computer
Small Monitor in Tablet • Scheduling
Computer • Interactive Mapping
Local • Geolocation • Ticketing
• Contribute p2p Data
Establshment • Interactive Mapping
•Real Time Arrival Info
• Route Info
Next Bus
-7.06Min
Cell Phone SMS
• Real Time
Location Time
• Contribute
GeoData
• Ticketing
• Contribute p2p
Web-Based GeoData
Application

Internet Enabled
TV
Smart Phone
Dedicated Server • Real Time Location Time
• Scheduling • Contribute GeoData
• Trip Planning • Ticketing
•Online Ticketing • Contribute p2p GeoData
• Interactive Mapping
• Scheduling
Real-Time Data Feed
• Trip Planning

Cloud based technologies enable a wide variety of interactions for people in a diversity of settings. SMS, Screens, TV,
Desktiop, Tablets, Smartphones.

Transit Appliance Portland Oregon
Open Transit Linux-based software easily loads to recycled monitor displays

Hardware Examples

Transit Appliance running on Transit Appliance running on
recycled PC monitor $60 Chumby digital picture
frame

“Homebrew” Transit Stop Notifiers built with Open
Source “Arduino” Hardware and Open Transit Data
Real-time Bus notifier
Travelboard Norwalk CT. signals when bus is
See also Routefriend.com and Livable Norwalk approaching

Real-time GPS tracker
with Mobile phone uplink

Arlington VA Analog dial bus location
Java Shack Coffee Shop tracker using Arduino and
Mobilitylab.org Pilot Project OneBusAway software

By employing an open source, cloud-based architecture it allows us to reach wider audience by configuring hardware for
specific audiences.

Low-Cost Digital Signage for Transit

Raspberry Pi
Microcomputer

~ $250 (new)
~ $35

RPi Enclosure attached to back of monitor
The Raspberry Pi is a credit card-sized computer created to teach children programming skills by providing them with a very low-cost
($35) but powerful platform. It is designed to connect to any monitor through an HDMI or standard component connection, which
includes any television set. Its 256MB of RAM is powerful enough to turn any TV monitor into a fully functioning Transit Information
Display or even ticketing kiosk.

Raspberry Pi-
$35 Microcomputer
• Created by non-profit Raspberry Pi Foundation to
stimulate computer science education in schools
• Initial run of 10,000 units sold out within five minutes of
launch on 2/29/2012
• Broadcom BCM2835 system on a chip (SoC),which
includes an ARM1176JZF-S 700 MHz processor,
VideoCore IV GPU and 256 megabytes of RAM. It does not
include a built-in hard diskor solid-state drive, but uses an
SD card for booting and long-term storage.
• Foundation provides Debian and Arch Linux ARM
distributions for download. Also planned are tools for
supporting Python as the main programming
language,with support for BBC BASIC, (using the "Brandy
Basic" clone), C,and Perl.

• Outputs for Analog RCA and HDMI enables connection to
majority of Television screens
• OS on SD Card allows for infinite customizations
• Can interface with Arduino Microcontrollers to extend
capability
• Wide variety of enclosures available to enable infinite
applications.

More RPi Specs.

Before we can have open transit data however, we need data in the ﬁrst place. So far only the Island Explorer has a real-
time location capability and it is based on software designed in the early 2000s. The problem is government contractors
charge enormous amounts of money for the complete “enterprise” level system... Which has its advantages, but afforability
isn’t one of them.
original idea for Arduino only as prototype, but in the interests of ﬂexibility it may actually make more sense to keep the set-
up as basic as possible so as to enable easy customization when the need arises.

* Slides 30-33 from Article called “Flexible Bus Systems Using Zigbee as a Communication
Medium” (http://www.online-journals.org/index.php/i-joe/article/view/1579)
Possibly the biggest obstacle to any open source networking hardware deployments is in the fact that wireless transmission
towers are almost exclusively dominated by the large telecoms. In the case of GSM communications it also presents a major
obstacle for remote communities who lack coverage.
A potential game-changing solution comes in a form of networking known as a Mobile Ad-Hoc Network.
(Slides 30-34)

* Slides 30-33 from Article called “Flexible Bus Systems Using Zigbee as a Communication
Medium” (http://www.online-journals.org/index.php/i-joe/article/view/1579)

Text

carfreemaine.org

A DIY, Foldable Electric Bicycle
This Electric Bicycle was built for under $500 on a folding frame. The bike
can be easily disassembled for storage on Intercity Motorcoach or
Railway Luggage Rack. Applications like the “Speedict” app for Android
serve a variety of functions, measuring everything from speed and battery
life to GPS tracking and navigation

Electric Bicycles hold enormous promise in areas with low transit accessibility by increasing the range riders may have
between their home and the nearest transit station. This electric bicycle prototype was designed by CarFree Maine to fold
into a carrying case for easy storage on an Intercity Motorcoach or a passenger rail luggage rack.

Boston MA
128 Minutes w/Bicycle

The Speedict Sensor
(www.speedict.com) reads and
logs EBIKE voltage, elevation, and
location data and converts an
Android phone into a dashboard
The DIY nature of the E-Bike community has led to innovations like the “Speedict” sensor, which transmits (and even
controls) EBIKE battery power, temp, location, speed, and elevation data to a Smart Phone (or specially conﬁgured standard
cell phone) which serves as a dashboard and data logger.
Such logs can be very useful for future networks if uploaded to an OpenStreetMap database.

Challenge Conventional Solution Open Source Solution
Paratransit, Commuter
Vanpools and paratransit are
Low population in rural Vans and Park and Ride 1-800-VANPOOL

integrated into regional transit
areas can not support lots are subsidized
network allowing for scalable
regularly scheduled service. through state and federal
access in small communities.
Majority of population lives taxes. Automobile
Location transmitters add
in low-density regions with ownership is still a
1-800-VANPOOL
microtransit to the list of
low or no transit access. necessity for most
available choices.
citizens.

Massive resources Regional transit agencies

$ $ allocated to adopt an open standard and
Transit services are
centralized provide data sets to civic
managed seperately entrepreneurs who develop
bureaucratic authority
with limited applications according to
and out of state
connectivity. individual community needs
consulting ﬁrms.

Riders must wait outdoors Next Bus
-7.06Min
$ Outdoor Digital
Display-$25,000
Next Bus
-7.06Min
Civic entrepreneur
partners with local

$ Proprietary Vehicle business near stop
until bus arrives.
Location Software to display real time
Schedules are
$60,000+ bus location
approximate.
$ maintenance information.

Civic entrepreneur partners
No Bikes allowed on Amtrak Bike Car with local business to
Downeaster except for Wells participate in bike-share
and Portland (neither of program. Partner
Partner with non-proﬁt to form Bike-Train
which have easy access to businesses are provided
program with additional “bike car”. Similar
bicycle facilities) with Android tablets with
programs exist on the MBTA, MNRR,
preinstalled software.
VIARail and GOTransit

With the world of possibilities enabled by open source frameworks, its very possible that rural regions will be able to offer
comparable advantages to people who chose not to relocate to urban settings.

1-800-VANPOOL
1-800-VANPOOL

6:00PM 6:00AM 6:59AM
Next Bus
Lunch -7.06Min
Run 1-800-VANPOOL

11:30AM 12:45PM 4:00PM

4:30PM
5:00PM 6:00PM
An average workday in the future.

1- With access to a range of transportation choices “Seth” will be able to plan his workday the previous evening by navigating to his digital day-
planner on his television screen.

2- He can choose to reserve a spot on a vanpool and must confirm at least an hour before the vanpool route is finalized. Vans will be assigned
to communities based on a “Groupon” model if enough people sign up from a given location.

3- At lunchtime “Seth” opens up the transit planner and searches for restaurants/coffee shops matching the inbound/outbound schedule he
chooses from the local circulator bus route.

4- A monitor at the coffee shop lets him know how much time he has left to finish his coffee.

5- With most of his office workload finished by then end of the day Seth decides to take his work home with him. The vanpool offers a direct ride
to the workplace, but will not be flexible enough to account for changes in plans and will not be suited for writing on his laptop.

6-A train will be departing at 4:30PM and will allow him to do the last 30 minutes of work on the ride home.

7-But the station is almost 15 miles from his house, so he picks up an electric bike from the Bikeshare and arrives home within a half-hour.

8-That evening he can either choose to ride the ebike back to the station in the morning or find another rider in his neighborhood to give the bike
to. The Bikeshare dashboard will provide him with the weather conditions for the following day and can even recommend what kind of clothing to
wear.

www.carfreemaine.org www.humblehackers.wikispaces.com

facebook.com/carfreemaine

youtube.com/user/carfreemaine

flickr.com/user/carfreemaine

@carfreemaine

CarFree Maine
The Modified Transit Display, Folding EBIKE, Microtracker, and Mesh Networking projects are all open for input and welcome
collaboration! You can find an open wiki at humblehackers.wikispaces.com. Be sure to follow CarFree Maine on Facebook, Twitter,
Youtube, Flickr and many others! You can find this presentation and up-to-date Maine transit news on our website
www.carfreemaine.org.
Thank You Very Much!

Transit Hacks: Maine Mini-Maker Faire 9/8/12

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