How will this weekend's Transit Camp affect you, the average beleaguered bus rider? In lots of ways: better websites, nicer maps, smarter rides, and information customized exactly to your transit needs ... which all adds up to you getting where you're going, faster and happier. Or at least, that's how it'll be if the Transit Camp evangelists can convince transit agencies to play along. The event is a sort of meeting-of-the-minds between transit-happy hackers......

Muni issued an alert yesterday afternoon that said simply, "Emergency - Powell line cable cars back in service." Oh no! Emergency! Cable cars unleashed on an unsuspecting public! Save yourselves! Run for the hills! Oh no wait -- the hills are exactly where the cable cars WANT you to run! Okay, okay, we jest. Obviously it's just a poor choice of words, not real peril. We can't begin to guess why someone thought that......

If you're done with your pagan tree-worship holiday, head on over to MeTransCo's 511 Survey, and let them know just how bad they suck. 'Tis the season! You could win an iPod, as if you didn't already have four or five of them already. The MTC is interested in how people use their services (if at all) -- for example, which of 511's many sites do you use most often? Or were you, like......

Apparently 511 just installed new arrival-time screens at a kiosk somewhere around Embarcadero, but we're skeptical. (Surprise!) Muni has scrolling LEDs in all the subway stations, but most of the time they're just reminding you about Proof of Purchase. And BART has the same problem: info screens so cluttered with reminders about tickets and pickpockets that they almost never show arrival estimates, or even the current time. But hey, this is 511 we're talking......

Since its launch in April, 311 helps SF residents bypass "over 2,300 telephone numbers that existed previously to access city services...[and] reduces calls to the City’s 911 center, where over 50% of calls received are for non-emergency services." (Really? Like, "Hi, I just called to chat, is all" or "I just saw Loni Anderson over on Chestnut!" kind of calls? Because that would be awesome.)...