Capital Metro has just introduced a very smart way to make your bus-riding easier. Perhaps you’ve found yourself out on the town and needing a bus ride but without a bus schedule and uncertain which route will get you where you’re going. But you do have a cell phone. If you’ve tried calling Cap Metro’s Go Line (474-1200), you know it’s bulky, cumbersome, and sometimes unreliable to the point of uselessness (especially after you finally got so frustrated that you threw your cell phone into Town Lake). Try this instead: Send a text message to austin@dadnab.com, including your starting point and your destination (i.e., “Fifth & Congress to 4800 N. Lamar” or “Deep Eddy Pool to state Capitol”). Within a minute or so, you’ll get a text message back giving you a trip plan, including time, location, and route.

The service comes via partnership between Cap Metro and a company called Dadnab. Austin joins Boston, Dallas, Houston, Seattle, Chicago, and the New York City area among cities using the service. Click on the Dadnab Web link for a demo of the service.

We’ve tried and love it, but one warning: If your cell phone limits the size of text messages you can receive, and you request a trip with one or more transfers, your trip plan might get broken into two or more messages.

Update: Click “continue reading” for some problems I encountered with the service.

Update: Okay, this service does have its limitations. This morning I was at Deep Eddy Pool, trying to get to our office at 40th & I-35. I typed in my trip, and Dadnab recommended taking the No. 21, which wasn’t coming for another 25 minutes. So while I’m waiting at the 21 stop, I look at the stop across the see a Silver Dillo arrive – which I could have taken Downtown and transferred to another bus. Then the 22 comes to that stop – which also would have taken me to my office, just going the other direction and possibly quicker. I finally said the heck with that and went across the street, caught a Red Dillo, transferred, and still got to my office quicker than Dadnab’s recommendation. So clearly Dadnab’s trip-planning software could use some tweaking.

This article appears in June 22 • 2007.

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