4 ms·

Transitmix (YC W15) Cuts the Paper Out of Bus Route Planning

51 points by hinting 12y ago

hinting 12y ago
Hi, founder here. Throw any questions you have my way.
- roel_v 12y ago
  Does your product do any modeling, or is it basically TSP with an optimum function of visiting as many people and job hotspots in as short an amount of time as possible (with customisable boundary conditions, of course)? I'm very critical of the article's claim that this is somehow novel, but I guess it depends on how you define 'this'.
  - hinting 12y ago
    We're keeping it simple for now. Complex modeling comes later. :)
- Sanddancer 12y ago
  I know you're just getting started with a lot of this, but how much planning are you doing with counterintitive transit issues, like bus holdovers at major transit centers? There are a lot of frustrations of busses scheduled to drop off or pick up passengers at stations, but with no layover to do both duties. This naturally leads to rather grumpy transit riders. Is your application going to be set up to handle situations like that?
  - hinting 12y ago
    Those are called pulse points. There's some great background here: http://www.humantransit.org/2010/12/basics-finding-your-pulse.html http://www.humantransit.org/2010/12/basics-finding-your-puls... Today, planners use some scary excel sheets to try to figure this out. They are scary enough that most don't. Definitely on our list of things to tackle.
    - Sanddancer 12y ago
      Interesting article, and I can just imagine the scariness of figuring out the pulse points of the various Bay Area transit hubs and agencies (aside: can we please get like half of the agencies to just go ahead and merge already, interagency transfers are the worst) using tools like massive excel sheets and the like. Anyways, best of luck in incorporating all this info.
- frakkingcylons 12y ago
  This seems like an amazing tool for transit agencies, nice job. I saw a screenshot of one of the CapMetro routes in Austin on your homepage. Have you been working with CapMetro recently?
  - tchu88 12y ago
    Thanks. We're trying to. We're actually visiting CapMetro in mid-March while we're in town for SXSW (specifically meeting with their Planning and Community Involvement teams). Would you have any recommendations?
    - frakkingcylons 12y ago
      I don't have any novel suggestions regarding routes, the new MetroRapid routes have fit my needs pretty well (as a student). But like most people, I'm in favor of extending the late-night hours Thursday through Saturday nights. Some friends and I have been working on a web app[0] to make it easier to see where the buses and trains are in real-time, and ideally get more people to ride them. We've been emailing CapMetro a lot to resolve issues with the GTFS data and the new GTFS-RT API and they're pretty responsive. We'll be at Interactive so hopefully we can chat for a bit. [0]: https://github.com/luqmaan/Instabus https://github.com/luqmaan/Instabus
erjiang 12y ago
Very interesting and encouraging to see a public transit service in YC. Article says that you all don't have prior experience in transit. Are you learning from your early adopters as you go? How much and how often do agencies re-plan their routes? How much of planning is driven by politics vs driven by data? What positions you all vs the consultancies who do planning? Would you expect consultants to be your customers or competitors?
- hinting 12y ago
  > Are you learning from your early adopters as you go? Yup, we talk to them daily. And they keep sending us love notes. Public transit professionals are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet. > How much and how often do agencies re-plan their routes? Generally they'll look at changes a couple times a year. But we're at a unique time where many cities haven't changed their networks in decades, and are going through a big redesign process. > How much of planning is driven by politics vs driven by data? Like anything else in .gov, some combination. Our goal is to push it heavily in the data direction. > What positions you all vs the consultancies who do planning? Would you expect consultants to be your customers or competitors? We're a set of tools to helps pros out -- we don't do the planning ourselves. Plenty of consultancies are already using us.
- mc32 12y ago
  >How much of planning is driven by politics vs driven by data? I recall living in Seattle around the time the light rail route was being planned. It seemed to be about 80% political. And so you meander through everywhere before you get to a useful destination. Like transit systems which stop short of an airport.... Or take the circuitous route to the airport...
  - aaronbrethorst 12y ago
    The light rail line has been serving Sea-Tac since 2009. (And, not that it's exactly germane to the topic, but I also happen to be the maintainer of OneBusAway for iOS.)
  - throwaway88594 12y ago
rburhum 12y ago
I have met the Transitmix team while I was at Code for America and all I have to say is that these guys are just plain ol' awesome. If you have not seen their demos yet, search them in YouTube. Amazing stuff.
rajacombinator 12y ago
Pretty cool! I imagine something like this would be especially useful in rapidly developing countries.

51 points by hinting 12y ago

hinting 12y ago

Hi, founder here. Throw any questions you have my way.

roel_v 12y ago
Does your product do any modeling, or is it basically TSP with an optimum function of visiting as many people and job hotspots in as short an amount of time as possible (with customisable boundary conditions, of course)? I'm very critical of the article's claim that this is somehow novel, but I guess it depends on how you define 'this'.
- hinting 12y ago
  We're keeping it simple for now. Complex modeling comes later. :)
Sanddancer 12y ago
I know you're just getting started with a lot of this, but how much planning are you doing with counterintitive transit issues, like bus holdovers at major transit centers? There are a lot of frustrations of busses scheduled to drop off or pick up passengers at stations, but with no layover to do both duties. This naturally leads to rather grumpy transit riders. Is your application going to be set up to handle situations like that?
- hinting 12y ago
  Those are called pulse points. There's some great background here: http://www.humantransit.org/2010/12/basics-finding-your-pulse.html http://www.humantransit.org/2010/12/basics-finding-your-puls... Today, planners use some scary excel sheets to try to figure this out. They are scary enough that most don't. Definitely on our list of things to tackle.
  - Sanddancer 12y ago
    Interesting article, and I can just imagine the scariness of figuring out the pulse points of the various Bay Area transit hubs and agencies (aside: can we please get like half of the agencies to just go ahead and merge already, interagency transfers are the worst) using tools like massive excel sheets and the like. Anyways, best of luck in incorporating all this info.
frakkingcylons 12y ago
This seems like an amazing tool for transit agencies, nice job. I saw a screenshot of one of the CapMetro routes in Austin on your homepage. Have you been working with CapMetro recently?
- tchu88 12y ago
  Thanks. We're trying to. We're actually visiting CapMetro in mid-March while we're in town for SXSW (specifically meeting with their Planning and Community Involvement teams). Would you have any recommendations?
  - frakkingcylons 12y ago
    I don't have any novel suggestions regarding routes, the new MetroRapid routes have fit my needs pretty well (as a student). But like most people, I'm in favor of extending the late-night hours Thursday through Saturday nights. Some friends and I have been working on a web app[0] to make it easier to see where the buses and trains are in real-time, and ideally get more people to ride them. We've been emailing CapMetro a lot to resolve issues with the GTFS data and the new GTFS-RT API and they're pretty responsive. We'll be at Interactive so hopefully we can chat for a bit. [0]: https://github.com/luqmaan/Instabus https://github.com/luqmaan/Instabus

erjiang 12y ago

Very interesting and encouraging to see a public transit service in YC. Article says that you all don't have prior experience in transit. Are you learning from your early adopters as you go? How much and how often do agencies re-plan their routes? How much of planning is driven by politics vs driven by data? What positions you all vs the consultancies who do planning? Would you expect consultants to be your customers or competitors?

hinting 12y ago
> Are you learning from your early adopters as you go? Yup, we talk to them daily. And they keep sending us love notes. Public transit professionals are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet. > How much and how often do agencies re-plan their routes? Generally they'll look at changes a couple times a year. But we're at a unique time where many cities haven't changed their networks in decades, and are going through a big redesign process. > How much of planning is driven by politics vs driven by data? Like anything else in .gov, some combination. Our goal is to push it heavily in the data direction. > What positions you all vs the consultancies who do planning? Would you expect consultants to be your customers or competitors? We're a set of tools to helps pros out -- we don't do the planning ourselves. Plenty of consultancies are already using us.
mc32 12y ago
>How much of planning is driven by politics vs driven by data? I recall living in Seattle around the time the light rail route was being planned. It seemed to be about 80% political. And so you meander through everywhere before you get to a useful destination. Like transit systems which stop short of an airport.... Or take the circuitous route to the airport...
- aaronbrethorst 12y ago
  The light rail line has been serving Sea-Tac since 2009. (And, not that it's exactly germane to the topic, but I also happen to be the maintainer of OneBusAway for iOS.)
- throwaway88594 12y ago

rburhum 12y ago

I have met the Transitmix team while I was at Code for America and all I have to say is that these guys are just plain ol' awesome. If you have not seen their demos yet, search them in YouTube. Amazing stuff.

rajacombinator 12y ago

Pretty cool! I imagine something like this would be especially useful in rapidly developing countries.