April 3, 2008
You Cannot Has TransLink
Apparently San Francisco is still pretending that this TransLink thing will work someday, but we don't know why. Muni just released a statement (dated April 4, 2008 -- A MESSAGE FROM THE FUTURE!!!) letting us know what we already know: it doesn't work. We know this already because Muni has adorned every single one of their buses with multiple copies of a "TransLink is not Ready" poster. (Where've we heard that before? Oh, yes, the entire last decade.)
This is possibly the most ballsy example of reverse-psychology advertising we've ever seen. (With the possible exception of their "memento mori, Vawanda" campaign a few months ago.) You've got a rolling billboard at your disposal and you want to get the word out about your impending release, so what do you do? You blast your customers with the message that they can't have it. Genius!
And let's say, hypothetically, that someday there actually is some kind of working system called TransLink. Do you think Muni will take down the posters? As we've seen, they have a bit of a problem with posters that are waaaaay out-of-date. Another jorb well done, Muni! We wonder if anyone actually paid to have those posters put up. Other than, you know, all of us.
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That is the least coherent announcement I have seen in ages.
Then again, you sometimes still see the glossy "T-Third Still In Testing, No Passengers" fliers on buses, a year after the T opened.
I wonder, does Muni have a team focused entirely on anti-marketing? Don't ride the T! Don't use Translink! Don't get on the back door! etc.
I had high hopes for translink years ago. Not anymore.
Damn, other programs go faster than us. Give for example the SmartLink program on the New York and New Jersey's PATH train system. All stations are equipped and available to the public, and gives an incentive like an all-day pass (never done before) and will eventually extend the program to the NYC subway system to replace Metrocards.
Which city official's brother (or sister, or in-law) is heading up TransLink? This degree of incompetence usually derives from nepotism. Either that or TransLink is a "Care Not Cash" program for teaching the developmentally disabled and drug addicted the ways and means of government work.
This morning I was riding AC Transit to work (bus was on time, thank you) and saw an ad inside the bus that seems to directly contradict Muni's anti-Translink campaign. It said something along the lines of "Sign up for Translink!"
I swear that I am not on drugs. Any ideas?
Found a link on AC's website, the graphic even says "It's Here!"
http://www2.actransit.org/riderinfo/translink/index.wu
Apparently Translink does work in _some_ form or another, just not Muni. Would that count as Muni's bad, or Translink's bad, or someone else's bad?
Translink works GREAT on AC Transit! Woohoo East Bay! Translink has been fully up and running on AC Transit since late last year.
Has anyone heard just what exactly the hurdle for Muni with translink is?
Ciaran: I'm going to bet that its just that Muni is too damn lazy. Or even that the union doesn't like this idea because there would be less work for their union workers to collect and sort the money the fareboxes collect.
This is not Muni's fault. Translink is run by idiots. Transit agencies all over the world have dropped Translink from projects.
Kvetch, moan, gripe -- repeat indefinitely.
I think it is kind of funny that people are so used to Muni being a problem that they naturally figure that anything associated with Muni just sucks. But I've been using TransLink for many months now for AC Transit, Golden Gate Transit, and yes, Muni. Get one of the cards and try it out. Works great for me. The announcement only was telling people that it is not available on all the buses yet. But it certainly is available on enough of them to make the card worthwhile if you don't already get a Fast Pass.
Who needs TransLink when your bus can have free WiFi?
Maybe Muni has taken a note from Google and plans to have an endless beta.
I have translink too, and it works great on any of the stationary card readers (example, train stations, ferry docks, etc.) because they are always on, and have a direct link to the Translink network.
The bus and train vehicle installations are problems because:
--If you buy online or by phone more credit to your account, it can't be done for at least a couple days because the buses gets their programming updates when they go to the bus parking lot at night.
--The vehicles are always on the move, it may be in one place at the bus lot, then gone the next minute.
--The machines are painfully slow when powered up. If you ride the bus near a bus terminal/shutoff area and the machine only activates when the engine is started, no driver is going to wait a couple of minutes for Translink to warm up, they leave ASAP due to the no idling rule.
A nice project Muni and Translink could have done is replacing the old fareboxes with new ones that have an integrated translink card reader on the box. Spares you the hassle to install a reader on the pole.
lol. this one is from a few days ago: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jameth/2378397948/
TransLink is currently fully operational on AC Transit and Golden Gate Transit, and it is working well. In fact, AC Transit riders on local routes now get a $.50 discount on every ride or a $10 discount on a monthly pass through the end of June when they pay with TransLink.
The TransLink system was always planned to rollout in phases. The next implementation phase will include BART, Caltrain and Muni. And yes, this rollout is delayed at least until late spring. The equipment is undergoing field testing, which is why the equipment is turned on, but it has those signs concerning not using it.
The challenges of the rollout are not specific to one party, i.e. it's not Muni's sole responsibility that TransLink is delayed. The project is extremely complex and extremely ambitious and that has resulted in numerous technical delays. The project is being overseen by 7 public agencies, and it's been very difficult to get all the agencies to work well together. The project WILL launch, and once in use, it should add significant convenience.
I CAN HAS OCTOPUS CARD?!!
Regarding the comment about integrating TransLink with Muni's fareboxes, the TransLink equipment has to work with fareboxes throughout the Bay Area. Integrating with just one agency's farebox, even the busiest agency in the Bay Area, would have added cost and complexity that would ultimately slow the project down and have little benefit for the regionwide implementation. TransLink will be integrated with BART's faregates, and that is one (of the several) reason(s) why the TransLink implementation on BART is more costly, more complex, and more bogged down by software challenges.
Do you like work for the MTA? Because it sure sounds like it.
What I was saying is that muni's fareboxes are OLD, to the point where Muni has to custom make the parts. Just putting it out there.
Mom said Muni sucked when she was a college kid 50 years ago, so it's nice to see them keeping up a city tradition through the present day.
But seriously, how is it that obviously incompetent people are able to keep their jobs?
The TransLink system was always planned to rollout in phases.
AHA. Ho-HO. (Long sigh, exhale.) Oh that was sweet, TransLinkInsider, a kneeslapper stupéfiant, truly.
" ... in phases". I like that. It kind of raises understatement to whole new level. Rather along the lines of "check-is-in-the-mail" and "troop pullout".
it's not Muni's sole responsibility that TransLink is delayed.
All of us here in San Francisco are confident that Muni is a problem solver. Part of the solution. Pro-active. Umm-hmm.
The project is extremely complex and extremely ambitious ...
Ah yes. The Apollo moon landing. Normandy. Translink. Cut from the same cloth, they are. Wait, WTF?
... and that has resulted in numerous technical delays.
Is this a required course in any communications degree or something? "Step #1: Restate the bleeding obvious." Just saying.
And yes, this rollout is delayed at least until late spring.
Perhaps you're forgetting we were told TransLink would be operational by LAST spring? When June 20th rolls around and you guys do the inevitable moving-of-the-goalposts dance, will you then stop insulting our intelligence in comment sections?
The project WILL launch, and once in use, it should add significant convenience.
I'm sure magic hoovercraft cars will be mightily convenient as well. But, as with the Translink, we don't actually have magic hoovercraft cars, do we? So the convenience factor is mitigated down to the "fuck all" level, isn't it?
.... bogged down by software challenges.
"Challenges"? Is that what we're calling a full-scale PR clusterfucks these days?
But! Whatever happens, don't RUSH yourselves. Better late than never. Slow n' steady win's her, by gum. Yesiree.
I wonder how many of you people who are bemoaning TransLink have actually used it? Yep. Thought so.
I wonder how many of you people griping are going to complain about the blatant attempts by BART bigots to derail TransLink? Yep. Thought so.
I thought about signing up for the TransLink beta for Muni.
But then I realized the machines are out of service 30%-50% of the time. If I still have to carry exact change, what exactly is the point of TransLink?
Something tells me they could have found a more reliable contractor -- 10 years ago -- to make all of this work.
I happily used Translink five years ago. Even got the the automatic debit monthly pass. Somewhere I have a lot of stickers with ID numbers like 00006 and 00012.
Isn't gate jumping easier?
I wonder how many of you people who are bemoaning TransLink have actually used it? Yep. Thought so.
That's just a stunningly dense statement right there. A simple "we're mad because we can't use it" seems almost too self-evident, so let me spell it out as I would for a 5 year old:
1. SFist is a website about San Francisco.
2. TransLink does not function in San Francisco.
3. While in San Francisco, San Franciscans cannot use TransLink.
4. Ergo, we bemoan it.
If there was any part of that construction that is unclear, do tell. We can elaborate on how well TransLink works in, say, Zurich, and why that is of no comfort to San Franciscans. But let's not cross too many logic bridges at one time.
aj: I was also a Muni translink monthly passholder for three years from 2002-2004. I still have all my old pass stickers! The serial number went no higher than 15.
Then I decided to quit the project after one Muni driver threatened to throw the card out the window for "illegally" using it, when they were trained to accept this a few years back and ongoing refreshers through their "alert" flyers. I gave the MTA and MTC a piece of my mind after that incident.
I wonder how many thousands of those stickers went straight into the garbage. (Or, it being SF, were individually peeled off the paper for Mylar composting and re-use by Sunset Scavenger's Artist in Residence.)
I feel like taking them off the wax paper, putting them on a piece of paper and scanning them to Flickr.
Honestly, I would pay in lbs. of flesh if the fucking thing just ran more often (and on time) during rush hour.
A couple comments:
1. To whomever thinks that TransLink is some international corporation, they are wrong. It is developed and owned by bay area transportation companies. That is very often a problem in transit in the U.S., each system has a set of proprietary requirements meaning that so much has to be custom outfitted for the individual needs of different transit systems -- from unique fare gates, to specialized trains and buses. Its time that the U.S. transit agencies created a set of standard specs.
2. Smart cards are used on multiple transit systems in regions around the world. There is nothing revolutionary about this idea, other than interagency cooperation and follow-through -- both which the Bay Area seems unable to achieve. London and Washington, DC are two examples that I'm well aware of. DC has had smart cards for probably a decade now, perhaps longer. It rolled out somewhat slowly, but now the 10 or more trains, buses, circulators, subway systems all use them. All have different fare structures. And cover three states and a federal district. Amazing huh? Soon kiosks will sell smart cards throughout the region, and additional value can be added through the fare boxes in buses. And yes, the readers are all integrated into the fare gates, or fare boxes (of numerous configurations) throughout the region.
Fascinating stuff, and completely within the present realm. The Bay Area's fumbling of this, in the middle of the technological and innovation capital, is darn right embarrassing.