For a Good Cause

Just thought I'd post a quick note about something I'm working on to give back to the community.

2011 is the 100th Anniversary of the university I attended, WLU.  They are running a promotion for alumni to do 100 hours of volunteer work in the community.

To this end, I've been working on crocheting baby blankets for the Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto.  So far I have made 4 blankets and it's taken about 70 hours.  I think if I finish 2 more, I'll have my 100 hours completed.

I'm very excited to be able to give back to this great Hospital that has helped a number of friends' and family's children.

What is C?

Thanks to the observant eye of one of the participants in the Route Paths and Driving Directions Webinar yesterday, I've found something else new in the Bustops update to pass along.

A new Route Analysis Violation - C.  This indicates a corner stop, a stop code with a route code of RC, that is located too far from the corner.

This can be helpful with route paths.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy long weekend.

Additional Features of New Version

Here are some additional new features in the Bustops update that's available:

Route Path and Drive Directions Changes:

• Changes have been made to the color settings options on the Modify Route Path
• A detailed message about how to modify the path is presented in the modify window.
• The Modify Route Path function has been simplified
• Reset button allows the user to start over with the modification without leaving the screen
• Done button saves your changes and returns to the main route analysis screen
• Eliminated save messages

 

Driving directions have a new option to suppress directional entries when leaving a stop

Reports Changes:

• Suppress printing of blank lines in driving directions

Mapping Changes:

• Scanned paper maps or aerial photographs can be loaded in JPEG (.JPG) format, greatly reducing the memory required for this feature

Route Analysis Changes:

• Sorting of the lists of Not Loaded Stops or All Stops has been improved
• Rider count has been changed improve speed

 

July Holiday Closing

In observance of the holiday weekend, MicroAnalytics will be closed on Friday, July 1st and Monday, July 4th, 2011.

The office will reopen on Tuesday, July 5th, 2011 at 8:00 am.

Have a great holiday!

New Bustops Update

There is a new BUSTOPS update available with some interesting new features in Route Analysis.

A customer, who recently got this update, due to the updates to the Animated Routes feature in Route Analysis, called for support.  She wondered why there were diamonds outlining one of her stops in route analysis.  I took a look at it... sure enough there was the diamond we're all used to seeing with a slightly larger diamond outlining it.

After investigating, this is a new feature that indicates which stop is highlighted in blue (but not necessarily selected with a * beside it)  in the stops listing for a route.  Another beneficial feature is a new speed menu item "Zoom to Stop".  To get this, right click on a stop in the stop sequence list.

If you are interested in receiving this update, call the office and we'll ftp it to you.

Hope everyone is now well into having their routes planned for the 2011-2012 school year!

A Little Perspective

This is for anyone who has ever, or will in the future, accidentally cut me off on the telephone.

Believe me, I don't take it personally.  When I was about 10 years old I was speaking to my father on the telephone while he was at work.  He was talking away to me and then all of a sudden the line went dead.  A while later he called back to tell me that he had spilled coffee on his desk and couldn't find a good spot to put down the receiver while he cleaned it up -- so he just hung up!

Trust me, getting accidentally cut off now doesn't phase me and I'll definitely call you back.

It's time to get serious

Good Job! to everyone who has their students upgraded in BUSTOPS and your routes planned for the 2011-2012 school year.

If you haven't contacted BUSTOPS Support to reserve your GoToMeeting appointment to upgrade your students, you need to get going.  See my earlier post for steps to be done to prepare for the 2011-2012 school year, and Ken's comments about using student downloads to upgrade your students.

When  you get ready to print, don't forget to review your routes in the BUSTOPS Report Preview screen  before  you start printing, and compare the information to what you have in your students and stops database.  The way your reports have been setup may require update commands to be run within BUSTOPS before you print.

Happy planning!