Agreed Flash is such a turd on the Mac, especially when you hit a page with 5 or 10 different flash files on it. Adobe never really wanted to support the mac. Thus why I use the ClickToFlash in Safari: http://hoyois.github.com/safariextensions/clicktoplugin/ It blocks flash, but also allows you to whitelist certain sites. Plus it awesomely replaces flash videos with nonflash versions. Once I started using that I was amazed the stuff that people used flash for which they should use animated PNGs or even GIFs.

Unless you're completely ready with the phone this'll take more time. I have the Starbucks card app which as far as I can see works the same way. Sometimes I use the app, sometimes its faster to get my card out. Depends how long I've been waiting and if I've already got the phone in my hand. That being said I used a mobile boarding pass for American Airlines onetime, it took the TSA guys so long to scan it I'll never mess with it again..

I like route numbers that clearly communicate something, so I like this in theory. Not being from that area, I'm unsure if it'd help or hurt. I was going to say that the Puget Sound kindof has this, with 5xx routes being regional interconnector routes, but thats more a function of the fact that they're ran by Sound Transit, who has that as their mission. It doesn't appear to be the same thing though.

Wil, Thank you for sharing this. I teared up with Joy!

I'm really curious, what is the history of the "I AM IN YOU" messages? I'm sure there is a good story there...

@Felix, thats why I mentioned the example of Sound Transit routes on King County Metro Buses. People can and do frequently categorize routes by the color of the bus, then check the number. The riders do find the right buses even when they're in the wrong colors, although it probably causes them to expend more cognitive energy. Probably an even better comparison is the San Francisco system which is served by multiple agencies. You know if you're going to North Bay you're looking for a Golden Gate Transit bus, not an AC Transit Bus or a MUNI bus.

@Brent 1) wow, that's gotta decrease a significant amount of scheduling flexibility. No linked routes, or running a bus as one route at peak and another at non-peak. 2) I don't see a problem with 2301 vs. 3201 as long as the population knows thats how it works. Although in mapping you could just provide the zones and the route id, and educate people in how to find the full number..

Well you can regain some of the operational flexibility by having white buses or something similar to be able to feed into any of the routes. (This is what the regional airline operators do in the US, they have a plane or two that is painted white can fly a route that they're contracted to fly for the majors even if they don't have any in that major's liveries available..) Sure substituting a white bus destroys the branding, but its worth it to keep the frequency and get the flexibility. In Seattle you'll occasionally see a Sound Transit route (which are operated by county transit agencies on buses owned by Sound Transit) being operated by one of the buses owned by a county operator. It keeps the frequency there but I'm sure causes a few other points of confusion, but its worth it to keep the frequency.

I was waffling on this for a while, but I've decided, I'm all in for an autographed book..

@Alan Robinson -- not many people know that in the US its illegal for any transit provider that accepts money from the Federal Transit Administration (Virtually all of them.) for a driver to refuse boarding if the passenger makes an attempt to pay. Sadly I've seen many drivers who don't know, or allow this.

When I was young my mother and I would hug each other, and she'd put her chin on my head and kiss the top of my head. I've grown a wee bit, and now when we hug I put my chin ontop of her head and kiss the top of her head. It's wonderful to be able to return a small sliver of the affection I received when I was younger.

Wil, Quite nice. I'm reminded of W. H. Auden's The Unknown Citizen. Its a nice look of the private lives we all have.

@CroMagnon Fully agreed that sidewalks are a major step toward making areas walkable. I've gone hiking around many of these car centric retail areas, because thats what you do, hike through the bushes, the inadequate uneven grass strip on the side of the road etc. The other thing that I think is Jarett really keyed in upon on improving walkability at least initially is mid block lights. The problem I see as a pedestrian in a automobile oriented area at stop lights is that drivers are less likely to look out for you when making right or left turns, than they are in an urban area. They just don't think about pedestrians.