Wireless while riding the train

[JonnoB]

I wish I could get wireless access on a train that serves my commute corridor. Instead, like millions of others I drive each day to and from work. A service like this train-enabled WiFi (http://www.computerworld.com/mobiletopics/mobile/story/0,10801,83930,00.html?nas=MW-83930) would get me to get out of my car and use mass transit instead. If you had WiFi access, would you consider mass transit?

[Jacob]

First of all they would have to implement a usable mass transit system in the area where I live...

[egads]

My commute is less than 2 miles. I could pretty much drag a cable behind me for that distance :D

[disconnected]

Generally I get a ride to work in the morning and take a bus at night. I think I'd occasionally use WiFi if it were available, but here in Kansas City we're lucky if we can even find a bus at all (never mind a train or subway) ; they keep cutting the service because most people here are surgically attached to their cars.

Right now I'm signed up for the TMobile pay-as-you-go program, but I'd probably be willing to pay about thirty dollars a month for a service that had some sort of roaming agreement. On a recent trip I saw STSN, Wayport, TMobile, ATT, and I think a couple of other services -- all with their own separate pricing.

[Jeff Rutledge]

I usually work at home so I'm Wi-Fi'd already. :D

But when I do go in to the office it's on the bus. I use my Blackberry there so I'm at least in touch that way. As for surfing, I wouldn't mind being able to visit the mobile forums while zipping down Centre Street. 8)

[Stephen Beesley]

Hell if they had wifi on the trains I wouldn't even go to work - I would just cruise around on the trains all day. Well that is I would except that the urban rail here in Dublin leaves some to be desired....

Goldtee

[Kati Compton]

I'd use mass transit if it were available from walking distance to my home to walking distance from my work.

AND

(

if it adds 5-10 minutes to my commute, but has wifi

OR

it is faster than my car commute

)

However, since my commute is only going to be ~15 minutes by car, I don't see this happening.

[Janak Parekh]

If you had WiFi access, would you consider mass transit?
I use mass transit on a daily basis; in my case, it fulfills the second clause of Kati's OR construct, PLUS no parking hassles. However, given the MTA's current budget, WiFi ain't coming here soon. :cry: We don't even have cell service in the subways, as it is. 1xRTT would be the closest thing to broadband you could get here.

--janak

[JonnoB]

However, given the MTA's current budget, WiFi ain't coming here soon. :cry:

I see serving WiFi on a train or other mass-transit as a money-making opportunity. Perhaps this is one way to get them out of their financial doldrums and dependant less on subsidies.

[Janak Parekh]

I see serving WiFi on a train or other mass-transit as a money-making opportunity. Perhaps this is one way to get them out of their financial doldrums and dependant less on subsidies.
i.e., a private service, like HotSpot? Perhaps, but let me add the other side to the coin: the MTA's bureaucracy. To the best of my knowledge, the MTA hasn't even finalized WHICH wireless carrier will cover the subway tunnels, even though there's potentially a lot of money in that agreement. And if the MTA were to set up WiFi itself, it would take even longer.

Let's put it this way: the commuter trains in NY are 30-40 years old. Just now, we're getting new commuter trains. And guess what? They have a credit-card-enabled telephone. Which will almost never get used. <sigh> And as for the subway, they're just now finally almost done with the old redbird trains, which are also 40-50 years old.

I think you'd see WiFi hit something like Amtrak much before anything else -- Amtrak is often geared, especially in the Northeast, to the business community (witness the Acela line). However, Amtrak is in such financial doldrums right now that WiFi is the last thing on their mind -- the current administration would probably be happier if Amtrak were to disappear (much to the chagrin of NEers).

Sorry, I don't mean to be a wet blanket about it all :( I hope it happens, but I'm not holding my breath.

--janak

[JackTheTripper]

DAMN! I got all excited for a minute. :( I live in San Jose and work in Redwood City. (About 30 miles away) But MY train line goes to San Francisco, not Oakland/Sacramento. :( I know the one they're talking about though.

It would be tough cause on a good day my commute is actually faster than the train, but not usually so that's a plus for the train.

I live 3 blocks away from the station and work 4 blocks from the other one. That's a plus for the train.

it costs me $8.50 round trip. That's a minus for the train. (Even buying a monthly pass it averages $5.36 per day. Gas is less expensive.)

Wireless won't stay free. That's a minus for the train.

[JonnoB]

To the best of my knowledge, the MTA hasn't even finalized WHICH wireless carrier will cover the subway tunnels, even though there's potentially a lot of money in that agreement.


This is a perfect example of a pseudo-government bureaucracythat just doesn't work. If the system were privatized - even as a non-profit, you would have people concerned in managing the system like a real business and there would be less of these problems. That said, I know of many private companies that have government-like management ineptness as well.

[Janak Parekh]

This is a perfect example of a pseudo-government beuracracy that just doesn't work.
Probably. However, the NYC subway system originated as a collection of largely private entities -- and it wasn't self-sustaining.

The economics (and, more important, profitability) of rails in the US is far more complex than in the rest of the world, given our topography and "love for the car".

--janak

[Sunnyone]

Generally I get a ride to work in the morning and take a bus at night. I think I'd occasionally use WiFi if it were available, but here in Kansas City we're lucky if we can even find a bus at all (never mind a train or subway) ; they keep cutting the service because most people here are surgically attached to their cars.


I'm one of those "surgically connected to their cars" Kansas City people, Disconnected! :mrgreen: But I live only about 5 minutes away from work. No mass transit of any kind in my suburban area. If I had a longer commute, though, and mass transit was available, I'd consider it seriously if WiFi was available.