Location Scout Resource: Transportation / Transit Links
If you are a location scout, location manager, producer (or other crew or actor / model…), you may well be charged with getting crew (or yourself!) ’round town.
Mashable recently published (albeit in a somewhat abstract manner – in a post about 200+ Tools For Surviving the Economic Downturn) a very helpful looking list of transportation and transit links, excerpted herewith:
Mashable: Transportation / Mass Transit: Bus & Train Services
Google Transit (Austin, Dallas, Miami, San Diego and several international cities)
Use Google Maps to
- Get step-by-step transit directions
- Find transit stops in your area
- View station information and schedules
HopStop.com
Subway and bus routes for Boston, Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, Washington D.C. / outlying areas
What We Do
Get door-to-door transit, walking, biking, taxi and hourly car rental directions in over 200 cities worldwide.You can also find places to visit, eat, drink, and sleep in our City Guide.
MBTA.com – Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
Schedules, fare charts and maps for trains, subways, buses and boats.
The T is always on the move – making news, holding public meetings, publishing research and reports, and managing T Projects to improve the rider experience. All this takes a skilled and dedicated workforce of 6100 employees and we’re hiring new talent everyday to better serve our riders.
MTA.info – New York City Transit – Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)
About Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)
Public Transportation for the New York Region
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is North America’s largest transportation network, serving a population of 14.9 million people in the 5,000-square-mile area fanning out from New York City through Long Island, southeastern New York State, and Connecticut.
TransitChicago.com (CTA)
Welcome aboard. We’re glad you’re interested in learning more about CTA. The following sections will help you learn more about who we are, where we come from, and what we do today.
SpotBus.com (Seattle, WA)
The easiest way to travel on Metro, Pierce, Sound, and Community Transit
ELTIS.org – European Local Transport Information Service
What is Eltis?
Eltis facilitates the exchange of information, knowledge and experiences in the field of urban mobility in Europe.
More great transportation links
i.e. carpooling, auto maintenence / repair, cheap gas, etc at Mashable (scroll thru the page)…
…see also…
NJ Transit
(how did Mashable leave this out?)
NJ TRANSIT is New Jersey’s public transportation corporation. Its mission is to provide safe, reliable, convenient and cost-effective transit service with a skilled team of employees, dedicated to our customers’ needs and committed to excellence.
Gone but not forgotten (offline) 🙁
OnNYTurf.com
subway lines / New York City and New Jersey (offline – RH)
BusMonster.com (Seattle, WA)
!–> seems to be offline 🙁 link directs to Google search for Busmonster – RH
Location Scout Resource: Find Free Parking in Manhattan – PrimoSpot
About PrimoSpot:
In a congested urban environment, parking can be difficult. This site can save you time and money by letting you find the best place to park for free. Using google maps and an extensive database of Manhattan parking signs, its easier than ever to find the most primo spot.
More About PrimoSpot
After living in Manhattan for years and racking up several hundred dollars of parking tickets, the site creator decided there must be a better way. After asking other drivers what their methods were, we heard that a few people were keeping hand-drawn maps in notebooks in their cars. As a programmer, he decided to create the map online. He opened the site to allow people to add their own streets and neighborhoods, and in June 2007, PrimoSpot was born.
This mashup is very useful info for any New York City location scout or other production personnel… by way of Kurt Wittman (thanks Kurt!)
PrimoSpot for mobile devices (Android / BlackBerry / iPhone)
PrimoSpot Blog
Primospot on Facebook
Parking – New York City, NY at Amazon
Location Scout Toolbox: Mashable | 15 Services for Finding Parking Spots
by Sean P. Aune
Owning a car can give you a great sense of freedom… then you have to figure out where to park it! More and more tools are popping up on the Web to help you locate both long and short term parking. Here are 15 services that cover everything from free spots to event parking, long term parking, and more.
3 location scout parking resources from Mashable Parking Resource List…
Location Scout Resource: HopStop.com – Subway & Bus Directions New York City
HopStop is your city transit guide. We provide door-to-door subway and bus directions and maps for several metropolitan cities. You can also search for places to eat, drink, sleep and see in the City Guide.
If you are a location scout you need to get where you are going quickly!
With HopStop you can:
– Send directions by e-mail or text message to a cell phone directly from the website
– Plan a trip with multiple destinations using the Itinerary.
– Get directions or the locations of nearby subway and bus stops remotely on your cell phone or PDA with the HopStop Mobile service.
HopStop Information
- Areas / Systems served by HopStop: New York City, Long Island, Metro North, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Boston, Rhode Island, Washington, DC, Atlanta BALTIMORE COMING SOON
- ALL location scouts and location managers can use help getting themselves and others around town!
HopStop at Amazon (FREE!)
Location Scout Resource: New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) | Truck Routes
…via Kurt Wittman (Thanks Kurt! 🙂
So… you are a P.A. trying to get a cube truck across the 5 boros OR you are a Producer, Assistant Director or Location Manager trying to get that P.A. where he / she needs to be with that vehicle …or a cargo van with commercial plates …or a tractor / trailer…
- New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) NYC Truck and Commercial Vehicle Homepage
- New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) | Truck or Commercial Vehicle?
- New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) Truck Routing General Info
- New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) | Upper Truck Route (pdf) 2.37mb
- New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) | Lower Truck Route (pdf) 2.38mb
Other useful New York City area traffic links:
- New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) | New York City Real Time Traffic Cameras
- Alkemis Local | New York City area | local.alkemis.com
- Find Free Parking in New York City
- Google Maps | NYC Traffic Tie-Ups
- United States Department of Transportation (US DOT) New York State Traffic Information
- United States Department of Transportation (US DOT) New Jersey State Traffic Information
- United States Department of Transportation (US DOT) Connecticut State Traffic Information
- United States Department of Transportation (US DOT) Pennsylvania State Traffic Information
Useful Traffic Links Nationwide
Commercial Transportation at Amazon
About.com: NYC Traffic Congestion Pricing Plan
Pamela’s Manhattan, NY Blog | Bloomberg’s Congestion Pricing Plan Passed by City Council | By Pamela Skillings, About.com Guide to Manhattan, NY since 2005 | Tuesday April 1, 2008
The City Council narrowly approved Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan last night by a vote of 30 to 20.
…In a nutshell, the congestion pricing plan would require drivers to pay $8 to travel south of 60th Street in Manhattan between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays.
There has been talk around New York City for some time now about a proposed Congestion Pricing Plan and now the matter has come to a vote – and passed by the New York City Council.
- New York City Council press release: City Council Approves Home Rule Request on Congestion Pricing
- PlaNYC Congestion Pricing Fact Sheet
- About.com: Congestion Pricing Guide for New York City | Everything You Need to Know About Bloomberg’s Congestion Pricing Plan | From Margot Tohn, for About.com
According to the About.com reports, there are $345m in federal funds for New York City attached to the Traffic Congestion proposal – and requirements for the city to make reductions in the number of automobiles travelling in the city, come up with attractive public transportation options for travelers in NYC and make improvements in air quality and general public health. The New York City Council proposal must be reviewed by New York State lawmakers and a decision made by them by an April 7th deadline.
What does any of this mean for film production and location scouts? (…if the measures pass at state level and become law)
- Obviously, there will be at least nominal increases in expenses by location scouts and other crew driving / equipment trucks / motorhomes traveling below 60th Street in Manhattan, (also known as the Central Business District (CBD)
- More of us will be traveling by subway and bus to get around at times 😉
- There are concentrations of production companies in the Times Square, Chelsea, and Soho areas, all areas that would be affected – be interested to see what this does to the general city’s production and general demographics – businesses making exoduses uptown, to the outer boroughs and even to New Jersey, the lower Hudson Valley and Long Island?
..more news as it develops…
