An incomplete personal history of making technology alongside mighty transportation agency. This is a presentation I gave to the CTA in August 2014.

1. Me + CTA Consumer-Focused
Technology
Daniel X. O’Neil
@danxoneil
August 14, 2014
August 20, 2014 1

2. Hi.
• Dan O’Neil
• Smart Chicago
• EveryBlock
• Civic Technology
• OpenGov Chicago
• 8 Principles of Open Government Data
• You?
August 20, 2014 2@danxoneil

3. 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
August 20, 2014 3@danxoneil

4. Most compelling wireless utility,
1999
August 20, 2014 4@danxoneil

5. Least compelling wireless utility,
1999
August 20, 2014 5@danxoneil

6. 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 electionAugust 20, 2014 6@danxoneil

7. 2004: His second blog was
“CTA Tattler”
August 20, 2014 7@danxoneil

8. • 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
August 20, 2014 8
2004: $5 meals in Chicago
@danxoneil

9. • 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
August 20, 2014 9
August 2005: CTA Alerts
@danxoneil

10. August 20, 2014 10

11. • 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
August 20, 2014 11
January 2006: The switch from
rider-to-rider to top-down
@danxoneil

12. August 20, 2014 12

13. • 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
August 20, 2014 13
January 2006: Relaunch of
CTA Tattler
@danxoneil

14. August 20, 2014 14

15. • 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
August 20, 2014 15
2008: The Age of GovDelivery
@danxoneil

16. August 20, 2014 16

17. • 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
August 20, 2014 17
August 2008: Harper Reed’s
Unofficial Transit API
@danxoneil

18. August 20, 2014 18

19. • 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
accounts around the concept of @ctatweet
• I warned, when we launched it, that it
might be lame
• It kind of was
August 20, 2014 19
September 2008: Launch of
CTA Tweet
@danxoneil

20. August 20, 2014 20

21. • 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 GovDelivery
August 20, 2014 21
December 2008: CTA Launches
RSS Feeds for Every Line
@danxoneil

22. August 20, 2014 22

23. • 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
August 20, 2014 23
January 2011: CTA Train Tracker
@danxoneil

24. August 20, 2014 24

25. • 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
August 20, 2014 25
2011: The Launch of CTAAlerts.com
@danxoneil

26. August 20, 2014 26

27. • Game-changer
• Super-solid spec
• Completely open and official
• And contained pretty much my greatest
tech victory ever
August 20, 2014 27
2011: CTA Alerts API
@danxoneil

28. August 20, 2014 28

29. • CTA came out with @cta
• Made @ctatweet basically irrelevant
• Again, the official service eclipses
unofficial
• In ways that serve the public
August 20, 2014 29
November 2011: @cta
@danxoneil

30. August 20, 2014 30

31. Lessons
• Light collaboration wins
• Inside/ outside
• The official service– the canonical entity–
always matters more than anyone else
August 20, 2014 31

32. Thanks
• Daniel X. O’Neil
• (773) 960-6045
• @danxoneil
August 20, 2014 32