One stop for transport info

iMove site to launch

TransLink is poised to unveil what it hopes will be the one website to rule your transportation world.

Called iMove – www.i-move.ca – the site offers an all-in-one place to plan local trips to avoid congestion and traffic mayhem.

The site lets users quickly view information, plotting 125 real-time cameras and live traffic incident reports on a map of Metro Vancouver or grouped along selected corridors.

Information is customized for different types of users. A cycling tab displays the region’s cycling routes in a simpler system than previously available.

The transit tab shows bus routes and links to schedules. Users can drill down to an individual bus stop and find out when the next five buses there are scheduled.

And once new GPS-equipped radios are installed on all buses, more will be possible.

“We’re going to develop the ability to deliver real-time predicted arrival times of each bus at the next stop,” said Keenan Kitasaka, the manager of TransLink’s Intelligent Transportation Systems subsidiary developing the site.

Startup costs were around $1 million, but other agencies, including the provincial government, are partners.

Also quickly available are:

• Ferry and border wait times.

• Information displayed on highway message signs.

• Airline, VIA Rail, or Amtrak schedules.

• Congestion at major bridges and tunnels.

“We’ve brought all of this into one single web site,” Kitasaka said.

Much of the site’s value involves the ability of other agencies to join in and contribute information through another TransLink project called the Regional Condition Reporting System.

That should make it possible for cities or other agencies to register events that will affect traffic – such as construction closures, parades and marathons.

“There’s a bunch of potential,” Kitsaka said.

Langley Township Mayor Kurt Alberts said he’d like to see railways use it to show when trains will block level crossings in the region – something Kitasaka said would depend on their participation.

The site is still in a final test phase, with fictitious test accidents displayed. But those should be replaced with real emergency services data fed directly from E-Comm when the site is formally launched in late November.

The site will also be accessible through mobile and wireless devices, in-vehicle systems, and possibly kiosks at key locations.

But observers watching iMove’s evolution so far haven’t been kind.

“The concept is amazing, but it’s been very poorly executed,” said Surrey’s Paul Hillsdon, one of the volunteer TransLink online advisors who said it’s a waste of money so far.

“The layout and design is ugly and not at all user friendly,” he said.

“Residents will be sticking to ‘all traffic, all-the-time’ radio for the forseeable future, unless TransLink fixes something here.”