Return On Investment
The entire project so far, including planning, hardware, software, development, and hosting, has cost about $250,000. What return has BART seen on this investment?
Since the April 2001 launch of the new site, BART has seen an impressive 60 percent drop in email and help-desk calls relating to the site. Questions about navigation or how to use the site are rare, and comments are now weighted more toward compliments than criticisms.
Another good sign is traffic growth, which continues to increase by 100 percent a year, despite plateauing growth in Internet use and a weakened economy (which adversely affects ridership because fewer people are working). People are spending 30 percent more time on the site too, putting the average visit in the eight-minute range.
Online job applications have increased significantly, as well. More than 60 percent of applications come in over the Net now, a 20 percent increase. This creates several internal efficiencies in areas such as data entry and postal mailings. Finally, traffic in news and features sections has increased nearly 25 percent, in part, Moore believes, due to the teasers on the homepage.
And customers aren't the only ones who have reacted well to the site overhaul. 415 received a Standard of Excellence WebAward for its work with BART. In October 2001, BART.gov was honored as the best public transportation Web site in the nation by the American Public Transportation Association.
Future
BART doesn't plan any immediate software or hardware upgrades to improve the performance or reliability of the existing system. It is possible, however, that an off-the-shelf CMS package will eventually replace the current custom one—possibly in as little as two years, says Moore, depending upon BART's needs.
Even 415 is shifting away from building custom CMSs as a company focus, because it recognizes that there are now several good ones on the market at reasonable prices.
BART is also looking at expanding its customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities to give customers a more individualized experience on the Web site. Research into CRM is just beginning, however.
Another possible enhancement is support for real-time information. "We're still at the research phase when it comes to real-time information," says Moore. "We have to make sure that we're delivering something that customers will use."
To that end, BART is looking into a few options for delivering real-time information, many having nothing to do with the Web. These include: telephone-based automatic voice recognition (AVR); short-range AM radio broadcasts in stations, similar to systems used in Federal parks; short message service (SMS) that would send short text messages to a variety of devices, including cell phones; Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), which would allow Web access over cell phones; and even old standbys like email and instant messaging.
Real-time information could cover not just delays, but information like construction in a station, or an elevator that isn't working.
One hopeful direction that BART has put on hold for the moment is WAP. "The penetration of WAP is a lot less than we anticipated," says Moore. BART's research shows that people tend to buy a WAP phone and initially think it's great, but then quickly become disenchanted by the limited choices in content and awkward UI (for example, the tiny screen and keypad).
BART is monitoring Pocket PC 2000. However, research conducted in August 2000 indicated that, although one in five BART customers owns a PDA, 70 percent of them are Palm devices. So for now, BART's plans focus on the Palm device.
"We target consumers, and the Pocket PC doesn't seem to be playing in that space," notes Moore. He adds that the Palm may continue to be the consumer PDA of choice, given its expanding capabilities and falling prices.
While BART continues researching possible improvements, 415 and Bear River Associates are working jointly to integrate the scheduling applications that Bear River created with the one that 415 adapted from the previous site. Currently, the Web application and the Palm application use two different algorithms to build schedules and plan trips. In the future, both will use the Palm application algorithm. A single ActiveX control, to be developed by 415 using Bear River's algorithm, will manage scheduling on the Web site and build the database for the Palm application. In fact, it will even provide input for the Quark page layout program for print-based publishing. Testing was expected to begin in mid-March.
Finally, the Web site will need to accommodate BART's planned service expansion to the San Francisco International airport, the nation's fifth busiest Airport. The project will add 8.7 miles of new track and four new stations, including one located inside the new international terminal. Scheduled for completion this year, the extension is expected to have a ridership of nearly 70,000 per year by 2010. It will radically change schedules. For a while, it will require BART to have two sets of schedules available—one with the current routes, and one with the planned routes. New software to ease the shift should launch in the second quarter of this year.
Michael is a freelance writer based in East Sound, Washington. Contact him at [email protected] or visit his Web site at www.hurwicz.com.
