511 Enhanced Trip PlannerSM - FAQ
GENERAL
What is the 511 Enhanced Trip Planner?
How is the Enhanced Trip Planner different from the current Transit Trip Planner?
What makes the 511 Enhanced Trip Planner unique or different from other similar tools?
What are the advanced features of the 511 Enhanced Trip Planner?
What information does the 511 Enhanced Trip Planner provide to help me select the best trip?
Will the Enhanced Trip Planner offer additional features in the future?
When will these additional features be available?
What if I want more information or I want to talk to someone at 511?
TIPS & TROUBLESHOOTING – Entry Form and Alerts & Announcements
What can I enter in the search boxes for Point A and Point B of the Entry Form?
How else can I find a location if the right match doesn’t appear through a text search for start and endpoints?
Sometimes when I click on the dark blue information buttons (shown as “i”) on the entry forms, the popup box comes up blank.
Why does the calendar only allow me to plan trips up to 3 weeks in advance?
What is the difference between Basic and Advanced Options on the Enhanced Trip Planner?
What are the Basic Option defaults for each type of trip?
How do each of the default mode trip selections work in general? Why does it appear that they are not always followed in the itineraries output?
Why are all of the mode choices pre-checked? (Drive Only, Drive to Transit, and Transit Only)
What are some of the ways to use Advanced Options for Drive Only trips?
What is the difference between Freeways and Highways on the Enhanced Trip Planner?
How does Drive to Transit work in general?
What are some of the ways to use Advanced Options for Drive to Transit Trips?
What are some of the ways to use Advanced Options for Transit Only trips?
Are Car Sharing locations included?
How do I plan a reverse trip for a Drive to Transit trip, to return to my parked vehicle or station where I was dropped off in the trip that I took initially?
Is there a capability for walking trips or bicycling trips?
Which Bay Area Transit Service providers are included in the public transit trips for the ETP?
Is there a carbon calculator to help me determine my trip’s impact on the environment?
Why does the Alerts & Announcements text sometimes load more slowly than the rest of the main page for the Enhanced Trip Planner?
Why does the Entry Form page only show one announcement for Traffic and one for Transit?
Why does the website take me to a new window when I click on Traffic or Transit links after “More Alerts”?
Why does a news ticker sometimes appear across the top of the page and at other times is missing?
Why does the 511 Enhanced Trip Planner sometimes show locations that are not precisely located at the intended point when I click on the map to set a trip plan point?
I am manually clicking on the map to set my point A and point B. How can I easily change one of the points if I accidentally click on the wrong place on the map?
TIPS & TROUBLESHOOTING – Trip Plan Itinerary Output
Why does the first result coming back from the Enhanced Trip Planner show just a summary of one trip for each type of trip selected?
Why can’t I see more detail of each trip when the results first come back?
Why is the response time slow at times when I use the 511 Enhanced Trip Planner?
Why do some of my trips seem illogical or unintuitive when I believe that there are easier ways to take them?
In the stop information bubbles on a trip itinerary on the map, a stop ID is sometimes listed. Is this stop ID the same for all the routes that serve that stop?
How are these Stop ID’s used?
What is the difference between Station Parking, Park & Ride, Bus Hub, Regional Transit Hub, and Nearby Parking, used in Drive to Transit trips?
How do you view additional parking information for Drive to Transit trips, and what parking details are provided on the trip plan itineraries?
Why does the trip planner sometimes assign me to transit stations that have no parking lots for Drive to Transit trips?
Why doesn’t the trip planner calculate trips that include Nearby Parking lots directly when it uses starting transit stations without their own parking lots for Drive to Transit trips?
Is the cost of parking included in Drive Only or Drive to Transit trips?
How does the Drive to Transit Drop Off option differ from Drive and Park in the itinerary output?
How do I see more Transit Only trips if I don’t like the first 3-4 that come back when I plan an itinerary?
Sometimes the walking maps for transit trips don’t show all the needed street names. How can I view these?
Why do some walking segments exclude turn-by-turn details?
Some walk times shown on the 511 Enhanced Trip Planner seem to be longer or shorter than what the walk time is in reality. Why is this the case?
Why are there no real-time trip planning info for transit or driving trips, or for parking availability?
TIPS & TROUBLESHOOTING – Mapping
What are the main features of the Enhanced Trip Planner mapping system?
How can the map be made more readable on smaller screens?
Why doesn’t the Clear Layers link on top of the map clear the trip plan route?
What is the Trip Route tab on the map that only appears after a trip plan is displayed?
How do I interpret the different color and shape symbols on the trip plan route displays on the map?
How does this map differ from others on 511 website sections?
TIPS & TROUBLESHOOTING – Other Trip Planner Features
How far from a location does the 511 Trip Planner search when the “search nearby” function is selected from a feature on a map bubble? Is there a certain radius for this feature?
What is included in the “Search Nearby” data?
Does the 511 Enhanced Trip Planner have auto-refresh capabilities so that trip results shown on the screen are always up to date?
The e-mail feature is not successful in sending the trip itinerary to some e-mail addresses. Why can’t it send the e-mail?
How does the Printing function work?
Why is only the top line of the browser page footer showing?
What is the current compatibility with mobile devices? Is the Enhanced Trip Planner designed for smart phones and tablets, or simpler mobile devices?
GENERAL
What is the 511 Enhanced Trip Planner?
The 511 Enhanced Trip Planner is a door-to-door trip planner for Bay Area travelers that provides directions, pricing and time estimates for taking a trip on public transit, driving or a combination of both.
How is the Enhanced Trip Planner different from the current Transit Trip Planner?
The current 511 Transit Trip Planner provides information for transit trips only (including walking portions). The Enhanced Trip Planner offers information and comparison options for the following types of trips:
- Transit, with walking portions included
- Driving to transit stations/hubs, then riding transit
- Driving only
What makes the 511 Enhanced Trip Planner unique or different from other similar tools?
A unique feature of 511’s Enhanced Trip Planner includes a combined driving and transit option that allows users to compare a trip of driving to transit facilities, parking or dropping off transit riders there, and continuing their trip using transit. Another unique feature is the estimated pricing comparison for each trip, including information (where available) about rates at adjacent major parking facilities.
What are the advanced features of the 511 Enhanced Trip Planner?
Advanced features of the 511 Enhanced Trip Planner include the ability for you to select:
- The type of transit and/or specific agency
- Walking speed (for transit trips)
- The fastest or shortest routes and ability to avoid freeway travel (for driving trips)
- The desired maximum distance to drive and park or drop off at a transit station (for drive to transit trips)
- A specific transit station to drive to and park at (for drive to transit trips)
What information does the 511 Enhanced Trip Planner provide to help me select the best trip?
The 511 Enhanced Trip Planner provides a comparison of the cost and time of taking transit, driving, or a combination of both. An overview of each type of these trips will be displayed, along with other alternatives in each of these categories for your trip itinerary request.
Will the Enhanced Trip Planner offer additional features in the future?
Features still to come include a map display of typical driving speeds by day of the week and time of day to compare with upcoming trip plans, real-time transit departure times tied to trip itineraries, and a carbon calculator to determine the environmental impact of your individual trip.
When will these additional features be available?
Additional features are anticipated to be available later in 2012.
What if I want more information or I want to talk to someone at 511?
Please visit: www.511.org/about-511-suggestions.asp
TIPS & TROUBLESHOOTING – Entry Form and Alerts & Announcements
What can I enter in the search boxes for Point A and Point B of the Entry Form?
The Enhanced Trip Planner will search for addresses, intersections, and landmarks. Entering addresses or intersections first will generally have a higher likelihood of finding a match.
Landmark listings are somewhat limited on this system, but include a variety of features such as civic facilities, hospitals, ballparks, transit stations, parks, and a limited number of businesses. 511 does not currently have a comprehensive and regularly updated list of businesses to search for by name in its database, but is working to include this in a coming update to the Enhanced Trip Planner.
How else can I find a location if the right match doesn’t appear through a text search for start and endpoints?
A dropdown menu is provided to help you locate rail stops, ferry terminals, and landmarks. This is most useful if you can’t recall or aren’t aware of the names of facilities you’re searching for, but may recognize them on a list.
Sometimes when I click on the dark blue information buttons (shown as “i”) on the entry forms, the popup box comes up blank.
There is a time-out on this feature, so that if you’ve left your browser sitting idle for awhile, it may bring up the popup box without text. Try refreshing your browser page at this point, and the text should display in the popup box upon retrying.
Why does the calendar only allow me to plan trips up to 3 weeks in advance?
511 regularly receives schedule changes from transit agencies that are included in the trip planner. These schedule changes are often not available from the agencies until sometime between 3 weeks and a few days before the changes take effect. To enable trip planning further out than 3 weeks creates a greater risk of not incorporating upcoming transit route schedule changes for trip planning in advance.
What is the difference between Basic and Advanced Options on the Enhanced Trip Planner?
Basic Options include some pre-set defaults to provide the most commonly selected types of trips for driving and transit. Advanced Options provide some preferences and features that allow users to customize their trips more specifically to their needs.
What are the Basic Option defaults for each type of trip?
For Drive trips, the defaults are Fastest Trips and all road and highway types.
For Drive to Transit, these two defaults are the same as Drive Only for the drive leg of the trip (which creates a drive trip from Point A to the transit boarding location).
However, the Drive to Transit trips also include a default to find a transit station for boarding that assumes parking at or near the station, and a 5 mile search from Point A to evaluate the best trips from transit stations where the transit leg of the Drive to Transit trip begins.
For Transit Only trips, the default preferences are the same as on the 511 Transit Trip Planner: Fastest trip, Adult fare, Maximum walking distance of ½ mile or less, Medium walking speed, and evaluate trips on all applicable transit modes and agencies.
How do each of the default mode trip selections work in general? Why does it appear that they are not always followed in the itineraries output?
Based on the default preferences, the Enhanced Trip Planner will attempt to find trips that best match those criteria. There are cases however, especially with transit, where trips cannot be found with the given locations, desired time of travel, and default preferences. In these cases, the trip planner may relax some of the criteria in the preferences to deliver at least some trip itineraries. When this occurs, the trip planner will provide messages indicating reasons for these adaptations, when possible.
Examples of this are:
- ½ mile walking distance is too short to reach a transit vehicle stop, so the distance is automatically extended
- The trip plan is too late at night, after scheduled service ends, so trips are given for early the next day
- A request is made for a trip leaving at 10 am but the first one given leaves at 2 pm because no other transit alternatives are available near there earlier
Why are all of the mode choices pre-checked? (Drive Only, Drive to Transit, and Transit Only)
Part of the intent of the Enhanced Trip Planner is to make users aware of quick, at a glance alternative choices for their trips, and help compare the costs and times of the trips. The pre-checked modes allow this to happen without the user having to think about this. Users can uncheck these if they don’t want certain modes coming up in the trip option comparisons.
What are some of the ways to use Advanced Options for Drive Only trips?
You can check a box to Avoid Freeways if you don’t want to drive on Interstate Highways due to congestion or other factors. The default setting to find a Drive Only trip is Fastest trip, but this can be changed to Shortest trip in Advanced Options. Sometimes Fastest and Shortest trips will be the same, and other times will provide different routes.
What is the difference between Freeways and Highways on the Enhanced Trip Planner?
This is mainly an issue of how the basemap data categorizes road types. Freeways are limited access Interstates. Highways are sometimes limited access expressways, but can also be arterial roads that go through cities with stoplights and cross-streets (with a State, County, or Federal highway designation). The “Avoid Freeways” option thus only limits trips from traveling on Interstates and roads designated as Freeways in the basemap, not from Highways that can either have separated grade limited access segments, or travel through city streets.
How does Drive to Transit work in general?
Drive to Transit is the newest type of and most complex feature in this trip planner. Both the Default mode and Advanced Options are being tested for effectiveness in this Beta launch. Drive to Transit presumes that a traveler will drive to or be dropped off from a vehicle from Point A to their transit boarding location, and it plans both the drive leg and transit leg of the trip. It assumes a walk at the destination end of the transit trip near Point B after arrival.
The Drive to Transit drive leg to the starting transit station/point is set by default to drive and park within a 5 mile radius of Point A. This will search for stations that either have their own parking lot, and/or have other large nearby parking lots that could be used for parking near these stations (on-street parking and small lots are not included in this trip planner’s search).
Some of these stations are evaluated for trips by the Enhanced Trip Planner even though they don’t have their own parking lots, because of a lack of other nearby stations that could provide alternative drive and park transit locations in these vicinities. This includes some areas in San Francisco and other locations scattered around the Bay Area.
Transit starting points searched by the Enhanced Trip Planner for Drive to Transit trips include a combination of the main rail stations, Park & Ride lots that can easily access transit trips, Bus Hubs, Regional Transit Hubs, and Ferry Terminals.
There are cases where Drive to Transit trips may not provide what may be more intuitive options, and sometimes will yield unusual results. This can be amplified by the location of your trip and starting point. For example:
- Trips in highly urbanized areas where walk and transit access are much more convenient for getting to longer transit trip boardings, and parking is scarce
- Trips that start right near or at a transit station, where a drive to the station is not necessary
In the first example above, in some locations like San Francisco where transit stations with their own parking lots are uncommon, Drive to Transit trips are still sent to stations that have other nearby parking lots as possible starting stations. This is because a search for a San Francisco station with its own parking may take the rider far out of the way, and the system tries to show some more viable options whenever Drive to Transit is checked for comparison.
In the second example, the Enhanced Trip Planner assumes that if the user is at or very near a station with parking, they don’t need to drive there, and so the user is asking to see a Drive to Transit comparison from another transit station with parking because they may have a reason for not using the immediately adjacent station near where they are starting. Therefore the drive legs to starting transit stations in these cases may go to a different station that is a not in that immediate area, and may seem illogical.
In either case, the user can uncheck the Drive to Transit box on the entry form if they do not wish to see those types of trips returned with the itinerary alternatives, and prefer to simplify the comparison of trip alternatives.
What are some of the ways to use Advanced Options for Drive to Transit Trips?
The “Avoid Freeways” option is available. Note the “Avoid” checkboxes are independent for each type of trip, and are left unchecked by default.
The “Drive up to” distance option allows users to lengthen the distance they are willing to drive to reach the station of entry for the transit portion of their trip. This is 5 miles by default, and can be extended to 10 or 15+ miles.
It should be noted that the distance search function will often work better in outlying areas where there are fewer nearby transit station/transit starting point options. When the distance search is extended, the Enhanced Trip Planner is not currently able to process all the options within the extended distance to evaluate every possible trip, particularly in dense urban areas that have more potential starting stations for transit trips. In these cases, trips with parking at stations closer to Point A will often be used rather than those at an extended distance.
If you choose to extend the distance search beyond 5 or 10 miles and don’t see results coming back to enable parking at stations further out than the stations close by, you can select a specific station to drive to from the “Select Station” dropdown menu next to the distance search dropdown menu. This will allow you more flexibility in planning a trip to a starting transit station that you might prefer to use after your drive.
Other enhancements will be made to Drive to Transit during the Beta period to improve the ability to target longer distance driving legs through the distance search, so that users can see trip options returned that enable longer drives to stations where the transit legs of the trip begin.
The other main Drive to Transit option is to select “Drop Off”, which will allow a greater number of potential starting stations for the transit portion of the trip after accessing it by driving. This is because it assumes someone else is driving and dropping you off at the transit starting location, and parking there is not required. Drop Off trips can also be searched by distance or customized by selecting a starting transit point from the drop down menu when the Drop Off radio button is selected.
What are some of the ways to use Advanced Options for Transit Only trips?
The basic options for Transit legs of trips are revealed in both the Basic Options and Advanced Options sections. These are similar to those on the existing 511 Transit Trip Planner, and include trip type, fare type, maximum walking distance between transit points, and walking speed.
The Advanced Options used for the Enhanced Trip Planner are similar to those used on the original Transit Trip Planner. These are a series of preferences to enable you to customize your trip further. They include selection/deselection of transit modes (Train, Bus, Ferry) to consider using on the trip, and the ability to specify particular transit agencies to include or exclude on the trip. A feature to include or exclude Cable Cars is planned for Phase II of the Enhanced Trip Planner, to be rolled out in the coming months.
Note that the Enhanced Trip Planner may override and not apply some of these advanced options when those preferences result in trips that are either illogical or significantly worse than more standard trips along these routes. These will sometimes be accompanied by a message explaining the override logic, but not in all cases.
These Basic and Advanced Options settings apply to both Transit Only and transit legs of Drive to Transit trips. Further details are available in the Information “i” buttons near the Include and Exclude options.
Are Car Sharing locations included?
There are some car share pod locations included in the search for locations in the Enhanced Trip Planner. But this is neither fully current nor incorporated into trip plans (unless the car share pod is used as a starting or ending Point A or Point B). Further integrating additional car share location information is being considered for a coming phase of the Enhanced Trip Planner development.
How do I plan a reverse trip for a Drive to Transit trip, to return to my parked vehicle or station where I was dropped off in the trip that I took initially?
For this Beta release, the Enhanced Trip Planner will not be able to create a trip that duplicates your original Drive to Transit trip in reverse, with a drive leg at the end of the trip instead of at t