Multidisciplinary Team Receives National Science Foundation Funding to Improve Transit [Pittwire]

A multidisciplinary team of Pitt investigators has received a three-year, $1.44 million NSF grant to build and evaluate a marketplace and a mobile app for multimodal transportation. The marketplace will provide incentives such as discounts at nearby businesses to encourage riders to take a later bus if the next one is full.

The funding will enable the Pitt Smart Living Project to place additional multimodal, realtime transportation information screens around the city. A half-dozen screens are located in Oakland and Downtown in collaboration with TransitScreen, through seed funding from the University.

Pitt Smart Living project hopes to ‘democratize,’ incentivize transportation [The Pitt News]

A Pitt research project is attempting to “democratize” and incentivize public transportation in Pittsburgh using public information screens and a mobile app.

The Pitt Smart Living project is currently in the pilot phase, according to Alexandros Labrinidis, the Pitt computer science professor leading the project. This phase involves installing screens, powered by startup company TransitScreen, displaying data from multiple feeds — including Port Authority buses, Pitt and UPMC shuttles and Healthy Ride bikes.

Read more: The Pitt News article by John Hamilton

TransitScreen provides real-time transportation information at City-County Building [Post-Gazette]

TransitScreen, the service to inform commuters about the availability of all kinds of transportation options that began in Oakland in April, is now available at the City-County Building, Downtown.

The free service is essentially a display monitor that tracks Port Authority buses, ride-share services like Lyft and Uber, car-sharing service Zipcar and Pittsburgh’s bike-sharing program. The service usually is provided by a large employer, but the local system is paid for as a demonstration project by the University of Pittsburgh as part of its Smart Living project to see if the monitors can be used to encourage commuters to spend their time waiting for transportation at shops and restaurants.

Read more: Post-Gazette article by Ed Blazina

Need A Ride? Oakland’s Real-Time Transportation Screens Will Lay Out Available Options [WESA fm]

If you find yourself in a transportation jam, screens scattered through Oakland could help you find a way out soon. The Oakland Business Improvement District is teaming up with a few other non-profits to provide large screens showing real-time transportation options.

They’ve been installed at the University of Pittsburgh’s Sennott Square, the SkyVue Apartments, UPMC’s Falk Medical Clinic and Presbyterian and Montefiore Hospitals.

Read more: WESA fm article by Mark Nootbaar

Real-time transit info available [University Times]

TransitScreens providing real-time information on multimodal public transportation to Oakland commuters have been set up in the lobbies of five area buildings. The pilot project, funded by the Office of the Vice Provost for Research, was announced by Pitt and the Oakland Business Improvement District.

Pittsburgh’s first publicly accessible multimodal transit screens aim to provide the public with current transportation data while attracting people to Oakland’s food and retail establishments. The screens have been installed at SkyVue Apartments, Sennott Square, Falk Clinic, UPMC Montefiore and UPMC Presbyterian hospitals.

Real-time transit information making inroads in Oakland [Post-Gazette]

For Ryan Bourque, development manager at the SkyVue Apartments on Forbes Avenue in Oakland, this is a regular scene as he works in the lobby: Residents who have called Uber for a ride gather in the lobby, track their ride on a screen behind a welcoming desk in the lobby and head outside when their ride is nearby.

They are using TransitScreen, a service that provides real-time information on a variety of transit services in Oakland, including buses operated by the Port Authority, University of Pittsburgh and UPMC, ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft, car-sharing service Zipcar and Pittsburgh’s bike-sharing program.

Read more: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article by Ed Blazina

Real-time Transportation Displays Keep Oakland’s Business District on the Move [OBID]

PITTSBURGH – The Oakland Business Improvement District—in partnership with the University of Pittsburgh—is announcing the installation of TransitScreens in major Oakland property lobbies providing real-time information on multimodal public transportation to the thousands of daily Oakland commuters. This pilot project was funded by the University of Pittsburgh Office of the Vice-Provost for Research.