Trifter

Image courtesy of www.FreeFoto.com 

Ever get to a city like New York and wish you could figure out the subways and buses without looking like a tourist?  Whether they admit it or not, even native New Yorkers get confused sometimes, if they are trying to get around outside their usual digs.  Travelers and residents in the know have discovered the secret to navigating mass transit options—www.hopstop.com. 

Developed by Harvard Business School graduate Chinedu Echeruo, who made it his mission to solve this problem, not only for New York City and its suburbs, but for other major cities like Boston, Chicago, Washington DC, San Francisco, London, and Paris as well, hopstop.com figures out how to get you to your destination via public transportation, walking, or, if you prefer, by cab (with an estimate of how much it will cost you and how long it should take). 

What resulted was a constantly evolving Web site that offers a combination of subway/metro and bus connections, listing key stops or streets along the way and the time expected between each with a total travel time at the end.  Users can choose more or less street walking, as well as ask the system to provide alternative routes. A great (and reassuring) feature about the site is that it keeps up with daily changes in service on subway and metro lines so that when you are trying to get from point A to point B you know when the usual train won’t be running and which one to take instead. (So if you plan to travel on a Saturday and you print out the route on a Wednesday, be sure to input the day you will be traveling, or you may not get the updates you need).

Not only does the site list the subway or metro stations where you should get on and off and those you will pass along the way, it tells you which exit to look for when you arrive at your stop and provides a 360 degree photo of what the street corner will look like when you get there.  Maps showing the local street names and bus or subway stop locations help in navigating the streets and avenues you will be walking along.

Don’t want to have to refer to a print-out or to waste paper?  Have the directions sent to your phone via text message.  On your way back, you won’t have to figure out where you put the directions. 

Added features include pre-planned trips—some submitted by users—such as walking tours, shopping, Kosher New York, and architectural trips.  Lists of nearby bars and restaurants are also available on the site.

If you use the site frequently, it will hold on to addresses you have submitted before and you can find them with a drop-down menu on the starting address or destination address forms when you begin your search.  And if you prefer directions in a language other than English, you can choose from German, French, Chinese, Greek, Italian, Russian, Spanish and Swahili. 

Unfortunately, with a service like this, if you wanted to use getting lost as an excuse for being late, it’s going to be harder and harder to get away with.