April 10, 2023

Me + CTA Consumer-Focused Technology

Daniel X. O’Neil@danxoneil

August 14, 2014

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Hi.

• Dan O’Neil• Smart Chicago• EveryBlock• Civic Technology• OpenGov Chicago• 8 Principles of Open Government

Data• You?

@danxoneil

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First

• I made my first civic app in 1999• Text-based WAP systems were just coming

into general use on phones• I tried to think of the most compelling use

case for this technology. In other words, what can’t wait for you to get back to your desk?

• The answer: Killer on the Loose• I also thought up the least compelling use

@danxoneil

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Most compelling wireless utility, 1999

@danxoneil

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Least compelling wireless utility, 1999

@danxoneil

2003: Blogs• In 2003, I set up a

TypePad blog for one of my brothers

• Gave him some training on how to blog

• He first blog was a generalized “catch-all”, focusing, in part, on the 2004 presidential election

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2004: His second blog was“CTA Tattler”

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• A mass text group set up on the UPOC.com system

• Anyone could join and let other people know about the best meals in Chicago that cost less than $5

• Nobody really used it, because it was boring and lacked authority

• But I learned about the group messaging platform

2004: $5 meals in Chicago

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• After a security incident on the CTA during the rush hour, I created a new mass text group on UPOC called “CTA Alerts”

• It caught on pretty quickly, and users contributed tons of useful information

• It grew to 600+ users in a couple of months

• We were able to cover the entire system at any given time

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August 2005: CTA Alerts

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• Shorty after we launched, the CTA signed up and started posting

• They were by far the most prolific posters• In fact, the system had turned into a top/

down communication tool instead of a rider-to-rider tool that I had envisioned when I launched it

• This was the first cycle of what would turn out to be three inside/ outside interactions where the CTA asserted primacy and made good systems

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January 2006: The switch from rider-to-rider to top-down

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• The site was very popular and the new features we added allowed for more rider interaction

• Streamed photos from our Flickr group

• Streamed RSS feeds of news, blogs, and mentions of the CTA

• Put the alerts front & center

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January 2006: Relaunch ofCTA Tattler

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• The CTA started doing their own alerts via a system called, “CTA Updates”

• Using an email-based system called GovDelivery

• Not awesome, too slow• CTA also reduced postings to the CTA

Alerts system

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2008: The Age of GovDelivery

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• My friend Harper Reed created a service based on the CTA Bus Tracker

• That blew my mind• We started working together to interact with the

CTA• Over-arching scrape was overwhelming them• Buster was using the endpoints• They had just updated the code from a Java

applet• Pittsburgh, Baltimore, DC• Inside/ Outside

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August 2008: Harper Reed’s Unofficial Transit API

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• It became apparent that Twitter was where it’s at when it came to group messaging

• Duh• So we started up a host of Twitter acc

ounts around the concept of @ctatweet

• I warned, when we launched it, that it might be lame

• It kind of wasApril 10, 2023

September 2008: Launch ofCTA Tweet

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• When the CTA launched a new website, they also included RSS feeds for every line

• This was a big deal, because it made @ctatweet a ton better

• The CTA also made operational changes to support this service

• Six full-time External Customer Communication Coordinators who work inside the CTA Control Center

• This was an improvement on GovDeliveryApril 10, 2023

December 2008: CTA Launches RSS Feeds for Every Line

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• The CTA came out with the Train Tracker

• Super-great thinking– native to the web, pure service, authoritative

• Prefatory to a full API • When I wrote about it as a beta

tester, I pointed this out

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January 2011: CTA Train Tracker

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• After the API release, it allowed to create a bare-bones dashboard of service

• Hosted at www.ctaalerts.com• We actually never really paid a world of

attention to this• In part because the CTA was doing a

great job• And in part because Harper became the

CTO of the Obama re-election campaign

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2011: The Launch of CTAAlerts.com

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• Game-changer• Super-solid spec• Completely open and official• And contained pretty much my

greatest tech victory ever

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2011: CTA Alerts API

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• CTA came out with @cta• Made @ctatweet basically irrelevant• Again, the official service eclipses

unofficial• In ways that serve the public

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November 2011: @cta

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Lessons

• Light collaboration wins• Inside/ outside • The official service– the canonical

entity– always matters more than anyone else

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Thanks• Daniel X. O’Neil• (773) 960-6045• @danxoneil