Using internet technology
One of
the US's smallest transit services has suddenly become more efficient thanks to
a teen geek with an interest in buses.
Lexington's Lexpress has six bus
routes. However Danny Moraff, who likes buses was playing around with Google
Transit, a feature of Google Maps that reminds users seeking driving directions
that they can also take buses and trains. The service helped users figure out
how much time they'll need for their trip and where and when to show up for a
bus or subway.
He joined Lexington's transit advisory board, convinced
officials it would be a wizard wheeze to sign up Lexpress to Google. He offered
to do all the donkey work. Moraff spent all his free time riding six bus
routes to plot the longitude, latitude, and typical arrival times on every
street in the system. He had to log every intersection in town and figuring out
the computer coding that suited Google's engineering needs. He spend 60 to
100 hours over a period of 18 months to do the job.
Google helped Moraff
identify kinks in his data. Lexpress became available on Google Transit in
December. It has been estimated that he has saved the small company thousands
and enabled it to provide a modern service with more accurate timetables.