SEPTA to launch Google Transit bus routes this week, more redesign details

After redesigning its Web site last week, SEPTA got back to Technically Philly with a laundry list of plans and details to answer our questions about the transit authority’s retooled Web strategy.
The company is well aware of the bugs that were the subject of complaints, says spokesmen Andrew Busch. Rather than stall the site internally, the company felt it could push out the new version as long as no features were missing.
On the call, SEPTA let us know some of its upcoming plans. With so many juicy details to share, allow us to present them in convenient bullet point format:

• Nearly five months after SEPTA integrated Google Transit with rail and subway schedules, the transit authority says it is looking to add bus routes on Friday, November 27th. SEPTA’s new redesign prominently features Google Transit in its “Plan my Trip” widget.
• SEPTA is making several pushes for real-time information online, including an upcoming feature to display the departure time and status of the next four trains of your chosen Regional Rail line and station.
• The half-dozen SEPTA blogs out there might have to watch their back. The organization says it plans on adding blogs and other content to “tell the story of SEPTA.”
• SEPTA worked on the new site for around six months before launching. The site’s Content Management System is the open-sourced Alfresco.
• The company is aware of faults such as a “career” page that still shows the old layout and an empty Regional Rail information page.

“There’s a couple blanks we may have,” said Busch, “but once we felt that there was nothing lost from the old site we thought it was a good time to get it out there.”

• A more formal announcement of the new site will come after the company cleans up all of the quirks and bugs and adds more scheduling information.