Problems with Apps, Problems with Riding Transit

Today I want to flag an issue I found with Milwaukee's Umo app and wayfinding, not to call them out or anything but to use it as an example of how while a good app can help you find your way on public transit, an error in the app can create an equally large problem and discourage transit use.

The issue I found is this: directions to take a bus from a stop it does not serve.

Here we have what seem like pretty useful directions! We did in fact follow these and get home. However, we did not take the 30 bus from the Wisconsin & Jackson BRT Station, because the 30 bus does not actually serve that station. It turns at the corner immediately past the station and stops one block away.

I know this because I saw it turn and not come to our stop while we were waiting. To make things worse, the weather that day was, to say the least, not weather you want to wait extra time in. 

Now, it happened that the CN-1 did come to the BRT station 1 minute later, and we were able to catch that and get where we were going anyway. But if the CN-1 hadn't come (and it was off-schedule by a few minutes, so it shouldn't have) and if I hadn't known that the CN-1 was an acceptable alternative (which to be fair the app did have as an alternative option) then we could have stood there forever, because that 30 bus was not coming to that stop. And I know people who would, indeed, just wait for that bus, neither taking a different bus nor moving stops--even though I obviously know people who wouldn't, too, since we did take a different bus.

This is the kind of issue that can create a real problem for a transit system if it happens to the wrong people at the wrong time, or too often, because it undermines trust in the system to actually get you where you want or need to go. When we're planning transit, we need to make sure that we report schedules correctly, routes correctly, bus names correctly. Anytime we have an error or a mistake, we risk someone not getting where they need to--and maybe not using transit at all for their next journey.

This is compounded at places where (unlike Milwaukee but like the QC) you don't have well-marked stops or clear schedules. Unmarked diversions, unclear routes, bad app instructions: these all risk making transit ridership even harder, and drive people away.