Brainstorming a better commute
By Michael Corcoran, Globe Correspondent – January 30, 2010

Imagine standing on a cold Boston street, waiting for an MBTA bus and wondering if you have time to grab a coffee before getting aboard. Suddenly, you notice a sign inside a nearby cafe flashing the words, “Bus will arrive in 13 minutes. Come in for breakfast!” So you hustle across the street, safe in the knowledge that your bus is still miles away.

Or maybe you pull out a smart phone and open up an application that shows you on a map exactly where your bus is located, and how long it will take to arrive.

Or maybe you simply look at your wristwatch to find out where the bus is.

Such Tom Swiftian products, some of which have already been developed, were the topic of a two-day long “Hackathon” that brought local software developers and state transportation officials to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Friday and Saturday. At the event, hosted by The Center for Future Civic Media at MIT, the developers showed off products that utilize new transit data released by the state and brainstormed about even more ways to use it.