announcements

Let’s work together in these exceptional times

Let’s work together in these exceptional times

by

(Posted on the eve of Phase 1 of NYC COVID-19 reopening )

Clever Commute is a small business. Funded and operated by a 5-day-a-week NYC commuter.

I have been doing this for 14 years...and I'm not planning on stopping anytime soon.

As a way to thank our Premium users, I am offering (at no cost) the opportunity for you to use the Clever Commute platform to promote/advertise your product or service.

Logistical notes:

  • If you (or your spouse/family) have a product or service which would benefit from exposure to the tri-state commuter community, then please contact me.
  • Due to supply and demand, we may not be able to accommodate all.
  • This is a good faith offer with an intent to keep things simple and non-contentious. (e.g., no political ads)

Official Info regarding transit ticket refunds

Official Info regarding transit ticket refunds

by

Clever Commute is not affiliated with any transit agency.
We provide this info as a courtesy to our community.

Deeplink to MTA info (LIRR & Metro North)

Deeplink to NJ Transit info (with more  info below)

Digital Tickets

To refund a monthly or weekly pass:
  1. Select the pass in your All Tickets menu
  2. Swipe the pass to the left
  3. Select refund
See also: MyTix App Frequently Asked Questions Ticket Purchase screen.
Date/Timing You Will Receive
Prior to the first business day of the calendar month/week a full refund
After the start of the month/week
if the refund is requested immediately following the purchase		 a full refund
All other the cost of two one-way tickets will be deducted from the refund amount for each business day you had the pass
MyTix Support: 973-491-8810 (Monday through Friday 7:30 AM – 4:30 PM)

Paper Ticket 

Submit a refund request by mailing in your monthly pass or take it to a ticket agent or a customer service office and they will process a refund request.
The date of the refund request will be deemed to be the postmark date on the envelope used to request the refund. Weekly and monthly passes submitted before the start of the validity period will be refunded at the purchase price. Weekly and monthly passes submitted after the start of the validity period will have two full one-way fares deducted from the purchase price for each business day from the start of the validity period to the date of the refund request.
If you wish to mail in your refund request you are able to send it to the below address:
Rail Refund Department
NJ TRANSIT
One Penn Plaza East
Newark, NJ 07105-2246

We took down the paywall

We took down the paywall

by

Due to conditions on our commute, we have taken down the paywall for Clever Commute Premium features 
That means that all users have all Premium features FOR FREE at this time.

Call to action: Logout/login AND restart the app

List of features – https://clevercommute.com/premiumfeatures
More info about Premium – https://clevercommute.com/premium

Suggestions to see some of the most-helpful features:

(1) Go to Settings => “Comms & Config”

  • Change the value of “History – Alerts” to see more than just 2 hours of recent history
  • Speed up your refresh interval
  • Add color-coding to Recent Alerts

(2) Go to Settings => “My Commute” and add a second and third commuting line

…and of course, tonight, use our enhanced departureboard with track prediction

Please use this opportunity to share info and help each other.
Please use the Contact feature of our web site if you have any questions.

NJT and “on-time” (Facts)

NJT and “on-time” (Facts)

by

Scenario: I need to take an NJT train to work in order to attend a 9:00 AM meeting

Note: I am responsible for where I live…how I commute…and how much lead time I need for a 9:00 AM meeting in NYC. I just need the transit providers to follow their published schedules.

The plan:  NJT Train Schedule (MoBo Line, Watchung Avenue Station to Hoboken) to PATH (Hoboken to World Trade Center)

Here’s a picture: Catch the 7:44 AM…get to Hobo at 8:20 AM…hop on the PATH…arrive in time for 9:00 meeting.
(Keep reading…)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easy-peasy, right? Well…there are two versions of what happens:

Published Schedule Reality
Arrive Hoboken at 8:20 AM

Walk to PATH and take the 8:23 train to WTC

Arrive at the office in time for 9:00 AM meeting

 Arrive Hoboken at 8:24 AM*

Walk to PATH and miss the 8:23 AM

Stand around and wait

Take the 8:29 AM PATH train to WTC

Arrive at the office too late to attend a 9:00 AM meeting

Regarding the asterisk in Reality, above

  • Train #1002 never gets to Hoboken at 8:17 AM
  • Yes, I can say never because I use the Clever Commute app to capture the actual “doors open” time each day
  • It actually arrives an average of almost 4 minutes late (3:58 to be exact)
NJT says it’s a 33-minute trip.
It’s not.
I encourage NJT to be realistic about train #1002. Change the published arrival time to 8:24 AM.

 

Understanding the economics of Clever Commute

Understanding the economics of Clever Commute

by

 

Summary: I try to be fair. I love running Clever. It’s passion of mine…but I need your help covering the costs.

If you are having second thoughts about the actual dollar cost of subscribing to the Premium version of Clever Commute, please read this and consider upgrading by using the Premium feature of the free app.
More info: Overview and Feature List

The Clever Commute guy is an everyday NJT rider, who has been running this service for 14 years, using his own funds. See the table below to understand the costs to design, build and maintain a scalable app/service such as this.

Back-of-the-envelop math will show you that simply selling the app for $1.99 (or $2.99, or even more) is not a tenable model…especially when you remember that Apple/Google keep 30% of that right off the top.

Regarding banner ads: I have previously said they are a way to make nickles and dimes. Trust me: that statement is only a slight exaggeration. Therefore, a subscription model is the only way to build and maintain a scalable robust solution. I’ve been doing this since 2006. Yes, I am in this for the long haul 🙂

Summing it up: I am a 5-day-a-week commuter. I have a full-time job in NYC. I run Clever as a passion project.
Your financial support helps to defray the costs of running this service. I really appreciate each and every subscriber.

—-

Start by recognizing that the App Stores take 30% of revenue right off the top.

But with all that being said, here are other things to think about

  • I personally spend over $400 a month on my commute. How about you?
    The $3.33 for Premium won’t “move the needle” on that monthly cost we all have …but it will help you and reduce your stress.
    Click here to see what other commuters say.
  • We give you 30 days of Premium when you first sign up. That’s a promotion.
    But we also give you another month free when you convert to Premium.
    (Note that any grace period for other apps is rarely a full month. Most do 7 days…maybe 14)
  • We give away free memberships as a matter of practice
    (our policy covers the unemployed, students, recent grads, people returning to the workforce, military, senior citizens, people who are disabled, pregnant or have any kind of mobility or material health issue)
  • We regularly donate Clever Commute subscriptions to charity
  • We take down our paywall as needed to ensure all commuters have a safe trip home
    (e.g., due to weather and other emergencies)

My point: I try to be fair. I’m OK to run Clever as a public service…so I need your help covering the costs. Please consider upgrading by using the Premium feature of the free app. Overview and Feature List.

Look at the Complexity Understand the Dollar Costs
Technical integration with at least 5 transit providers

We provide solutions for iOS as well as Android

We offer paid as well as free versions

We support 5 categories of data (not just crowdsourced)

Maintaining a presence for the app in 2 app stores

Our app communicates/publishes via e-mail, push notifications, SMS/text, web, and Twitter.

We also manage a presence on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook

 It starts with the cost to build and maintain all these features. But it also includes the cost of vendors/providers I pay for …

  • Sending mails
  • Sending texts/SMS
  • Sending push notifications
  • Web/App Hosting
  • Backups
  • Data storage
  • Geolocation/Mapping license
  • Security tools
  • App Store-related APIs
  • Automation/Scheduling
  • Uptime monitoring

 

Managing the “Good News” alerts at the start of your commute

Managing the “Good News” alerts at the start of your commute

by

This page explains one or more of the dozens of amazing features found in Clever Commute Premium.

The Heads-Up feature sends Premium users the official view of their commute at the user’s stated travel time.

Some riders want to suppress those alerts. To accomplish that, they may use another Premium feature: the ability to stop notifications from any given user. How to:

  1. When you see such a message in Recent Alerts, tap on the actual Reported By: name
  2. On the subsequent screen, tap on Stop notifications

A longer (and older) video about this feature is here

The implemenation (and pros/cons) varies by provider per the table below

Provider Nickname Note
LIRR Official_LIRR This will also stop notifications for intraday official LIRR alerts
Metro-North Official_MNR Other intraday notifications come from Official_MetroNorth…so user can decide to suppress one or both
NJ Transit Trains Official_NJT Other intraday notifications come from line-specific accounts…so user can decide to suppress one or both