{"212771":{"#nid":"212771","#data":{"type":"external_news","title":"Aiding transit in real time","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EGiven metro Atlanta\u2019s transportation mess, it\u2019s refreshing to find progressive thinkers who are looking to improve things within the existing infrastructure, at little cost to anyone. \u003Cstrong\u003EKari Watkins is an engineering professor at\u003C\/strong\u003E \u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech\u003C\/strong\u003E who, while at the University of Washington, co-developed a computer application for Seattle transit called OneBusAway. The app taps into vehicles\u2019 GPS and provides real-time arrival information on users\u2019 computers and mobile phones. This allows riders to limit their wait times at bus stops and train stations. Watkins and her Tech students are now working with MARTA to develop similar technology here. (The coding for OneBusAway was also used to create MTA Bus Time in New York.) In Seattle, project research for OneBusAway, available at \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.onebusaway.org\/\u0022\u003Ewww.onebusaway.org\u003C\/a\u003E, turned up some interesting findings: \u2022 Surveys show that people perceive they are waiting much longer for transit than they actually are \u2014 some research suggests up to twice as long \u2014 but Watkins found that with real-time information, there is no longer a difference between perception and reality. Source:\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.myajc.com\/news\/news\/opinion\/aiding-transit-in-real-time\/nXp5F\/\u0022\u003EAtlanta Journal-Constitution (Opinion)\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p3\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27592","created_gmt":"2013-05-14 10:11:39","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 02:26:27","author":"Joshua Preston","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","publication_url":"http:\/\/www.myajc.com\/news\/news\/opinion\/aiding-transit-in-real-time\/nXp5F\/","dateline":{"date":"2013-05-14T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2013-05-14T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1299","name":"GVU Center"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"66231","name":"city transit"},{"id":"803","name":"public transportation"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}