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Ok, so this post does not show us flying around in Jetson’s hovercrafts, but thanks to a couple of UC Berkeley students (where ya’ at Stanford?!!) this app shows us how to get from Point A to Point B much easier! It’s super amazing! Oh, and Bay Tripper is free, too! I can’t wait to use this app (just got it yesterday).

Check out the video.

What’s your favorite public transit app? I want and need to know.

I tuned into watch The Amazing Race 16 last night (Tivo saved the day yet again!) and was pleasantly surprised by the mode of transportation the racers had to travel to get to LAX…my fav, public transit!

Over the years I’ve been all over the world and been on countless subways, buses and ferries. I’m ranking the public transit systems by the following criteria:

1. Geographic reach (does it cover one neighborhood or the entire city)
2. Easy to navigate (what if you don’t speak the language)
3. Will it get you to/from the airport
4. Hours of operation

22. Houston
21. Las Vegas
20. Denver
19. Phoenix
18. San Diego
17. Dallas
16. Los Angeles
15. Minneapolis
14. Philadelphia
13. Marburg, Germany
12. Atlanta
11. Seattle
10. Austin
9. San Francisco (includes BART and MUNI)
8. Boston
7. Chicago
6. Washington, DC
5. Portland
4. New York City
3. London
2. Moscow
1. Tokyo

Next event:
Honolulu urban adventure race February 20th

First, my apologies about the blurriness. This pic was taken with my iPhone.

Can anyone figure this out? The sign says/means:

Jacques Binet could have read this: tq-gj*Z \YC=

CitySolve Urban Race’s clues will not be this difficult. Man-a-live that BART question is tough!

]]> http://www.citysolveurbanrace.com/blog/2010/01/25/are-you-smarter-than-a-5th-grader/feed/ 0 http://www.citysolveurbanrace.com/blog/2009/04/15/marta-marta-marta/ http://www.citysolveurbanrace.com/blog/2009/04/15/marta-marta-marta/#comments Wed, 15 Apr 2009 07:13:15 +0000 Jason http://www.hightrekadventure.com/blog/?p=428

Did you get the subtle 1970′s pop culture reference? Well, you did now!

I was in Atlanta last month and the first thing I did once I retrieved my luggage was look for the MARTA signs. I was still groggy from the red eye from SFO to Hartsfield-Jackson. Not to mention the fact that a passenger fainted at 36,000 feet en route keeping the bright cabin lights on for an unexpected and lengthy time. But I digress…oh, yeah, back to ATL’s public transit.

I walked to the MARTA ticket kiosk to purchase my “Breeze” card and noticed that there were plenty of passes I could choose: 1. one way fare = $1.75; 2. all day pass = $8; 3. 2 day pass = $9 (I opted for this one and have already gotten my money’s worth). I greatly dislike it when there aren’t any options to buy an unlimited pass. You hear me BART! I’m talkin’ to you!

The second thing that I noticed and really liked were the TV monitors tattooed in to the walls of the train. What a great idea! Advertisers can reach a captive audience. And the audience can catch up on whatever is on CBS (they own the advertising, so it’s the only show in town).

Aside from the day passes and the boob tubes inside the train cars I thought that MARTA ain’t too bad. The subway come at a decent frequency. Though, the only problem I see is that the MARTA map only goes north – south and east – west. You need to work on that a bit to get my gold star approval.

Opening Day was Monday and it’s a glorious time for me…go Red Sox! I’ve been to a lot of sporting events in my day and a lot of different public transit systems (I love pub trans). Here’s a list of cities I think have the best public transit you can take to see your favorite team.

10. Atlanta: Bus takes fans to Turner Field to see the Braves
9. Philly: All built stadiums in S. Philly making it a one-stop shop
8. San Diego: Red Line operates on Charger’s games!
7. Portland, OR: TriMet goes to Rosegarden and PGE park (wtg Pdx!)
6. San Francisco: Extra Munis run on Giant’s games; BART goes to A’s, Raiders and Warriors (why would you go and see the Warriors?)
5. Chicago: El stops to see Cubbies, Bears and Sox!
4. Washington, DC: Nats home field is near Metro station and Verizon Center is the hub of the Metro
3. Boston: Need to take train (not T) to Pats games making it a pain
2. New York: No transit to Giants Stadium or Meadowlands and what about the Islanders?
1. Houston: Yes, H-Town! The stadiums/areas are not all nestled in one area of the city, but the one tack of the light rail comes within 4 city blocks of the Rockets and Astros. Public transit also goes to Reliant Stadium.

Do you agree?

Teams leave Humayans Tomb and must fly 1,000 miles to Almaty, Kazakston a chicken factory where they will find the first clue box. Lucky for Terrance & Sarah and Dan & Andrew, the chicken factory did not open until 7:30 a.m. All teams caught up. The gate opened and the five remaining teams raced to the clue box to find that they had a choice between a Road Block and a Fast Forward.

Road Block: Search for the Golden Egg
One team member must search to find one of seven golden eggs. Sounds easy. Did I mention that there are 30,000 chickens!

Once teams find the golden egg they must travel by crane to Koktobe Arch where they must follow a marked path to meet a Mongol Warrior. It is here where they will find their next clue, which happens to be a Detour.

Fast Forward: Eat Local Delicacy
Nick & Starr and Terence & Sarah raced for the the Fast Forward where the both team members had to finish a traditional meal: the fat of a rear end of a sheep. Sarah felt like this was a bad idea. Will she be right?

At the restaurant, N&S and T&S found out that what they were eating was meat. Terrence is a vegetarian and hasn’t dined on animal in 15 or 16 years. He bit off more than he could chew and waved the white flag. If it were Sarah who could not finish the task (for a million dollars) I think Terrence would not have understanding or sympathy. Terrence better remember this moment and realize how lucky he is to have a woman like Sarah in his life.

Detour: Play Like Mad or Act Like Fools

Play Like Mad: Teams must head to the Museum of Folk Musical Instrument where they must learn to play the dombra and the kobyz. Once their instructor feels that they have mastered their instruments they are sent out to the park where the must play for the locals and collect tips. Once they receive the equivalent of $1.50 they will get their next clue.

No team chose this one; I wouldn’t have either.

Act Like Fools: Teams must head to a children’s puppet theatre, find the wardrobe dept and don a cow costume. Once suited the two person squad must head out on to the streets of Almaty to find a milk stand, drink the milk AND look at the bottom of the glass to receive their next clue. Then TARers must find Zelyonly Bazar and find a specific butcher stall where they will receive their next clue.

Tina completely missed the clue on the bottom of the glass. She thought that they found the wrong stand. They eventually found it and found the clue, but lost precious time. Then K&T made another HUGE mistake and returned the cow costume to the children’s theatre. They didn’t need to do this, if fact they needed the costume to recieve their next clue.

Pit Stop
Final clue takes teams to Old Square by foot. (Dan & Andrew did not follow these directions (that’s their fine ASU education at work) and had to go back to the bazar.) This is the Pit Stop for this leg of the race. Here’s how they finished: 1. Nick & Starr (won two 180 horsepower wave runners); 2. Toni & Dallas; 3. Ken & Tina; 4. Andrew & Dan; 5. Terence & Sarah – Eliminated.

Now that I have officially screwed up the final ranking – thanks to Terrance the vegetarian My new pick…hmmm. I’ll post it on Tuesday. It’ll be a special edition.

I just found out the parts of the Green, Red, and Orange line of Washington D.C.‘s Metro will be delayed 15-20 minutes. High Trek Adventure participants needn’t worry though. The delays are not within the area of the tomorrow’s race.

Green: Fort Totten and Prince George’s Plaza Metrorail stations should add 15 minutes

Red: Friendship Heights and Medical Center Metrorail stations should add at 20 minutes

Orange: Vienna/Fairfax-GMU and West Falls Church-VT/UVA Metrorail stations should add 20 minutes

Please Note: Yellow Line trains will terminate at Mt. Vernon Sq due to the Green Line single tracking

See, reading our blog is beneficial

The public transportation in the Bay Area is as diverse as the people. I have ridden BART, the historic cable car, CalTrain and Muni (light rail and trolley, no bus). I just wish the system was better. The one thing I like about BART is that you are able to check for times online (this comes in very handy when you have to catch so many 6:25 a.m. flights out of Oakland International). Other than that the City by the Bay’s public transit is a little lackluster (especially having just come from Portland – TriMet is very good). Nothing will ever beat NYC’s public transit (definately my favorite system, though, I do love Boston and its “T”). What is your favorite public transit system. The best answer will receive a $10 Starbucks gift certificate. Contest ends August 31, 2008. All answers must be posted on this blog.

High Trek Adventure loves to recycle and Portlanders have always pushed the green envelope forward. Portland is the second most eco-friendly city in the world only behind Bjork’s hometown, Reykajvik, Iceland.

Despite Portland’s size it is very easy to get around via the endless miles of bicycle paths and, of course, TriMet – even the bus system is reliable and widely used (I’ve used it and love it). I got excited to hear that coming this fall TriMet introduces its fourth arm (now as many as Vishnu), Wes Commuter Rail.

Another very cool, very green thing I stumbled upon in Portland is Urban Greenspace Institute. UGI works to create great cities-cities where the built and natural environments are interwoven, not set apart. I love their slogan: Endless Sprawl Or Open Space?