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How I commute: What’s in my bag

How I commute: What’s in my bag

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I'm not selling or promoting any products here. This post started with what I keep in my bag...and then I added ideas based on feedback from this mailing to the Clever Commute community.

Let's start with the bag itself.

What's inside mine? 

  • A 3-in-1 charger (something like this)
  • Emergency charger (bad for the environment...but not used often)
  • wireless headphones (not AirPods)
  • 2 pens, 1 highlighter
  • ziplock bag of business cards
  • small pack of tissues
  • my housekey (I walk to the train, so why bring the whole keyring?)
  • bottle opener
  • a spare mask
  • And now that I'm actually taking inventory of what I carry...
    I notice a surprising amount of hygiene items (toothbrush, toothpaste, foldable hairbrush, travel-sized mouthwash, deodorant and cologne).
    But that's not a total surprise because it's also the bag I always take when I travel

Here are some ideas from the crowd (I tried to group them as best I could)

  • Hand sanitizer, lip balm, bandaid/small first aid kit, Advil, Pepto-bismal tablets, dental floss,
  • beer coozie
  • personal umbrella
  • Reading material (which does NOT need electricity), notepad
  • smokemask, headlamp, multitool, paracord, bandana
  • nutrition bars, water, gum, candy
  • pepper spray, lighter, multi-tool
  • eyeglass case, eyeglass cleaner packages

I returned to the office after a year of working from home

I returned to the office after a year of working from home

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I'm the Clever Commute guy. I have a full-time job in technology for a financial services firm. I started what became Clever back in 2006...during the Blackberry days. A lot has changed since then, but one thing has stayed the same: technology can address some of the problems with the commute.
Once I was fully-vaccinated, I started the process of returning to the office.
My experiences:

NJ Transit - I generally commute in via Hoboken and out via NY Penn Station.
Morning: the train was lightly-populated...and not all cars were open. The level of cleanliness does not appear any better or worse than pre-Covid.
There were opportunities for physical distancing two ways:
o no one sat in the same row as me
o we also tried to keep a free row between passengers

In my experience, everyone wears a mask. No one eats or drinks.
Since Newark Broad Street is a transfer point, some folks get out there to catch a train to NY Penn.
Detraining at Hoboken terminal is simple and safe.

Evening: A bit more crowded...but still safe and clean. I had my space and I did not see any masklessness.

PATH - The next leg of the trip takes me to World Trade Center. Again: sparse...plenty of open seats...mask-wearing. See comment above regarding cleanliness.

Subway - The lines I ride (2/3 4/5) are safe and clean. The crowds certainly can vary...but I did not experience anything worrisome.

Financial District - It's quiet...but not a ghost town. My favorite old-school deli is open...and so is Le Pan Quotidien.  There are people on the streets. The bars and restaurants have created outdoor seats and bubbles. Stone Street is surprisingly vibrant.

My Office - It's quiet, too. But they are doing all the right things: Temperature scan...app-based health-check questionnaire...limiting capacity on elevators...goodie bag with thermometer/masks/sanitizer. I feel very safe there and it's nice to be out of the house...with true boundaries to the start and end of the day,

A note on Penn Station - As I previously blogged, the situation there is largely in the eye of the beholder. The LIRR section is under a lot of construction/renovation. The NJT and Amtrak areas do indeed have some closures...some homeless. But I also think that since there are fewer people there in general, we can actually see that which has always been there. I also imagine that the warming weather means that fewer people will be seeking shelter there.

Overall - The recovery will take a while...but the data shows that we have bounced off the bottom and that commuters are returning. Even in non-pandemic times, the commuter traffic ebbs in the warmer weather. Do you remember the traditional first-commute-after-Labor-day crowd? 2021 won't be as high as it was in 2019...but it will be worlds ahead of 2020.

Will you be a part of it?

The New Year resolution I made last January (130 fixes and enhancements in the first 3 quarters of 2019)

The New Year resolution I made last January (130 fixes and enhancements in the first 3 quarters of 2019)

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For 2017 and 2018, I was publishing a new version of the app on a somewhat-monthly schedule. There were so many features to add...so many opportunities. It was energizing.

But the majority of these things focused on the NJ commuting experience.

To be clear, a lot of work is always needed on the infrastructure used by all Clever commuters. However, I know that  the legacy Clever experience for LIRR and Metro North riders was not as robust as it was for NJ train/bus commuters.

Part of the reason was (and is) because LIRR and Metro North do not povide me with the same technical opportunities vis-a-vis those provided by NJ Transit (yes, kudos to NJT here).

Nonetheless, in 2019, I took stock of the things which are in my control...and then put energy (and code) into doing all I can to bring the non-NJT Clever experience into parity. It's been a great year. Here is what we did (so far)

  1. New LIRR feature - Our bots/probes check the departure board to look for overall bad trends/signs of trouble. Premium users get  notified per their communciation preferences. The alert is also added to the recently-revamped News You Need feature
  2. New LIRR andMetro-North feature - At the start of your stated commute, we notify you of the official conditions on your branch. We call this headsup.
  3. Enhanced LIRR feature - We overhauld the in-app version of the departureboard.
    Ues - this includes the amazing track predictor.
  4. Enhanced LIRR feature - You can now see the full text of official alerts from your transit provider (previous version routed you to mta.info/lirr to see)
  5. Enhanced Metro North feature - Improved handling of large official Metro North messages.
  6. Enhanced Metro North feature - Improved handling of graphics in official Metro North messages.
  7. New Metro North feature - Official messages from Metro North are now filtered to be branch-specific
  8. New Metro North feature - We parse/translate the official alerts from MTA to convert "train numbers" to train times you can understand (Examples)
For all: 
  1. Improved the your ability for Premium membes to turn on/turn the "message box"
  2. Removed ads from some pages
  3. Improved emoji support
  4. Improved off-line functionality
  5. Resolved legacy issue of duplicate messages (in app) as well as duplicate push notifications
  6. Brought back the News You Need feature (as loaded up relevant events. More to come.)
  7. Modernized the UI (This is not just cosmetic. End-user app features now work better/faster.)
  8. Improved overall stability and enahnced our up-time monitoring/diagnostics
  9. Overhauled subscription handling to ensure a smooth process for Premium users

Healthy use of this service during times like these

Healthy use of this service during times like these

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It’s been a big growth spurt for us…and a lot of message volume. We want to keep this community as helpful as possible…so here are the headlines

      1. Even though there are expected daily delays, if you have info which helps…then by all means share it. But please remember our best practices.
        Be helpful and pretend that you are sharing info for a real traffic report
        If you want to be funny/sarcastic/snarky, then do that via our Vent feature
      2. In the morning: Do not always post what time your train arrived at the terminal
      3. In the evening:
        Do not always post what time your train departed the terminal
        Do not share (or ask for) track number information


        4. For 2 and 3, there are so many trains that it just gets too noisy (see FYI below)

      4. Where applicable, use the existing feature to identify what train you are on
      5. vote…Vote…VOTE.
        Use the ThumbsUp/ThumbsDown feature in Recent Alerts to designate what is helpful
        Do not upvote things just because you think they are funny.
        View the voting results on our Leaderboard
        NOTE: We DO follow-up with the best and worst senders. Therefore voting is your top tool to ensure we can recognize the good…and “coach” the bad.

      FYI: We are working on several enhancements to help the service adjust to what is happening.
      For example, we will improve the way we identify and suppress duplicate messages (hence #4 above).

      Not to be sales-y…but if you want track number info, our Premium service does everything you want…and probably things you never thought of. We predict your track, e-mail/text/push you the track number, show you track number history, and even show you track number after it was removed from the departure board.
      It’s incredibly powerful and does so much more than simply give you track number info (see all features).
      Why not start your 30-day free trial of Premium by selecting Premium in the app?

       

       

What’s new in 2.4.0

Premium for free

Premium for free

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GREAT NEWS!

At this time, we have configured the Clever Commute app so that all users have free access all Premium features.

Q: What is Premium?
A: You may know Clever Commute as a free app…and it is. However, there are also dozens of amazing features which we provide to those who subscribe to Clever Commute Premium

Q: What are the features?
A: It’s a long list. See it here.

Q: Do I need to do anything to see the changes right now?
A: Just exit and re-enter the free app to experience eveything we have unlocked for you.
– See more hours of history in Recent Alerts (instead of the “2” that free users get)
– Recent Alerts is easier to read (enhanced color coding and formatting)
– Faster refresh (Recent Alerts will automatically refresh more often)
– See alerts on your Primary, Secondary and Tertiary routes

You can set/see more fetures via Settings => Comms and Config
(and also just by clicking on options throughout the app)