If Hilary Duff's stirring portrayal of Marie Antoinette has taught us anything, it's that the downtrodden citizenry will only take so much s**t before they rise up against their lazy, useless oppressors. Take Muni, for example. Ordinary civilian internet users, once begrudgingly content with Muni's hopeless website and its tendancy to warp information in impossible confusion, have taken things into their own hands. Behold, a civilian-created FastPass-Vendor Google-Maps mashup! Oh, sweet Google map, how you soothe our fiery outrage. Mmmmm, tasty.
Y'see, if you want to find out where FastPasses are sold, Muni won't show you a map of locations -- instead, they provide a text-only list of vendors, sorted by their zip codes. Finding the closest vendor is therefore like playing a text adventure on a Commodore 64 when what you really need is one of them new-fangled CGA computer machines. We'd have thought that an agency whose function was to move people about the city would have an aptitude for providing, y'know, STREET MAPS, but no -- Muni expects you to do some kind of zip-code-based geographical arithmetic in your head and magically divine the closest vendor.
But no longer! We are released from Muni's cruel texty tyranny, thanks to Skot9000 and his stupendous ticket vendor contraption. Yaaaaaay! It's no longer 1992 on the internet! Hip hip hooray!
This failure of Muni's is so uncharacteristic -- they're usually so effective when communicating with their customers; from the confusing subway closure signs to the way that they only let you see NextBus tracking for a handful of lines, even though almost every line in the city has been functionally wired for NextBus for about a year now. Oh, hey, look -- Skot9000 has also found a way to liberate NextBus data for lines like the 5 Fulton, the 31 Balboa, and the 6 Parnizzle, too. Well, that's just peachy. Skot9000 for mayor! Nobody can make the trains actually run on time, but at least now you'll know how long you'll have to stand out in the cold waiting.
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You mean Kirsten Dunst? She played Marie Antoinette.
Kirsten Dunst is just Hilary Duff's stage name.
Uh, Kirsten Dunst?
Thanks for the links! Kirsten4ever!
the 6 parnizzle? off the hook, yo.
glad the sfist readers know the diff. between dunst & duff. I mean, HUGE diff, yo.
one person goes and does what an entire group of city-gov. employees can't. impressive and oh so sad at the same time. thanks skot9000.
I loves me some text. It is way better for my handheld and my friend's screenreading software. I think that it is fine to make sighted people work a little harder.
If you are gonna err, you should do so on the side of those who need it instead of those who like it. Of course user interfaces are important, but maybe Muni should be spending money on maintaining buses?
In a perfect world, Muni will have both text and map versions. In this world we get text.
cga video and commodore 64 video essentially were able to display the same number of colors.
you should really get the ist crew to spring for an intern.
I loves me some text. Say I lose my vision and have to use talking software on my computer, text is perfecto. User interfaces are important, but so is maintaining public transportation vehicles and infrastructure.
Also, for those who can't afford expensive high bandwidth connections, big maps don't work so well. Big maps don't work so well on my handheld either.
If(?!) Muni is going to err, it is better to do so on the side of those most in need. In a perfect world, Muni will have a map and text. In this world, we get text.
Nice work on the map, skot9000. Muni should at least offer you some FastPasses before they steal it.
Commodore 64 is just Hilary Duff's stage name.
Comments buggy today. All apologies for the repetition.
hey! thanks for the rad post!
HM - I agree with you, I dig text-based solutions also. It's just have you ever tried using the zipcode based outlet finder? it's really tough! Or at least for me.. I think i live in an obscure remote leg of my zipcode. More than a couple times I have paid bus fare to take a bus across town to get a fastpass when safeway is sold out. little did I know there is an outlet 2 blocks away from me but in a different zipcode.
also; nextbus.com is especially bad in a low-bandwidth, image-challenged situation like a mobile phone..
Try this link for all Nextbus routes at the rescuemuni website:
http://www.rescuemuni.org/nextbus-pda.html
This points to the PDA versions which may be useful if you are out 'n' about in a mobile phone using kind of way.
I thought Jimmy Fallon played Marie Antoinette.
Why do we have to depend on our friends and neighbors for such useful MUNI innovations? What are we paying Mr. Ford over $300,000 a year for? I've been waiting for those little NextBus announcemnt boards on more bus shelters for YEARS now. I thought i lived in the tech capital of the world.
btw, LA is putting us to shame:
http://www.washingt onpost.com/ wp-dyn/content/ article/2006/ 12/16/AR2006121600923. html
oops...
sorry, here's the link all in one piece:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/16/AR2006121600923.html
Hillary duff wasn't in that movie... doesn't sfist have a movie critic in the house?
No. In fact, SFist doesn't even have a house.
need to get one!