About Transit.wiki

From Transit.Wiki
Revision as of 02:05, 30 November 2012 by Andy (talk | contribs)

Lametrobus2.jpg VTA lrt.jpg Sacrt bus.jpg

Help Special pages
  1. Content
  2. Editing pages
  3. Starting a new page
  4. Semantic features
  1. Special pages
  2. Recent changes

Welcome to Transit Unlimited. The goal for Transit Unlimited is to provide a comprehensive guide to all buses, trains, ferries, and shuttles in California and beyond.

While most metropolitan areas have many transportation alternatives, it is often hard to figure out what options there are and how to use them. It can be especially confusing for new and infrequent riders and visitors on vacation or business. The goal of this project is to fill in the gaps left by the official transit web sites and online transit trip planners with the information and knowledge experienced riders have picked up along the way.

How is this Wiki supposed to be structured

Transit Unlimited provides transit information for:

  • Cities
  • Popular destinations (parks, sports facilities, airports, shopping centers, colleges and universities, etc)
  • Rail stations/ferry terminals/transit centers

Transit information on this site is consisted of pages for:

  • Bus/rail/ferry routes
  • Transit providers

At Transit Unlimited, users can have a virtual tour of each leg of the transit trip, which complements online transit trip planners by providing information beyond just providing simple transit routes and times. For instance, this Wiki provides the following for a trip from Hayward to AT&T Park:

  1. Hayward - For transit services, stations, and destinations available in the city
  2. Hayward Station (BART) - for location, parking information, and transit connections to the station.
  3. BART Fremont - Daly City Line - for train schedules and station served, along with alternate service.
  4. Embarcadero Station - Information for transferring from BART to Muni Metro
  5. N-Judah - for train schedule, along with alternate service.
  6. 2nd & King Station - for location
  7. AT&T Park - for all transit routes serving the park.

In addition, this Wiki will provide a step to step guide for things that savvy riders have taken for granted, such as

  • How does a bus stop look like?
  • How to read a bus schedule?
  • How to use ticket vending machines?

Transit Unlimited is not just limited to traditional fixed route mass transit. Shuttle buses, privately operated transit, and bicycling information is welcomed.

Task analysis

Figure out the primary goals that most of the readers will be coming here for. These need to be fleshed out alot more.

  • Figure out how to get somewhere
  • Already know how to get somewhere, but need transit agency in (fares, arrival times/schedule)
  • Find out services and rules specific to the transit line or stations (i.e. parking fees, how to pay)
  • Where to transfer (especially between trains and buses at stations without off-street bus plaza)

Guiding principles

  • Think about new riders who might may not even be fluent in english.
  • Avoid technical and confusing terms. There's no need to say "light-rail vehicle" when "train" works just fine.
  • Never contradict a transit agency unless their information is misleading or false.
  • Providing details useful for new riders that savvy riders take for granted. For example, listing where buses stop (and in what direction) at the station, rather than just providing a list of buses that connect there.
  • This is not Wikipedia. That means the information on this site does not have to meet the standards set by Wikipedia. Also, this Wiki should not follow the formatting commonly found in Wikipedia articles.

How can you get involved?

This wiki is looking for contributors for this Wiki, especially if you have programming skills and/or transit savvy. For now, only registered users can edit this site.

If you work for a transit agency or a private provider, please let User:Andy know if you find something needs to be changed or added. Although most information comes from the web, some transit information are not available on the internet can only be verified by being on-the-ground.

Please see the help section if you want to get started on editing. The most important part is the Semantic features section, because this wiki is highly depend on Semantic Mediawiki and its ability to query information.

A resource for all transit big and small

Transit Unlimited can be used to promote shuttles (e.g. BART shuttles), small transit, and privately operated buses, which allow them to have the same web presense as big transit agencies. The Wiki welcomes all service-related information. Pages on Transit Unlimited complement presence on online trip planning services such as Google Transit.

Contact User:Andy if you have any questions. Webmaster User:Andy is also available for consultant work for online and printed transit materials.


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