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Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority enhances mobile site for easier access to information

The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority has rolled out a new mobile-optimized site to let consumers stay on top of transportation information.

MBTA decided to refresh the mobile site after seeing a significant growth in mobile traffic over the past year. The mobile site is powered by Usablenet.

?Web traffic to MBTA.com has grown dramatically in recent years ?especially when there is a major event,? said Joshua Rubin, director of innovation and special projects at the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, Boston. 

?The MBTA wanted to freshen up its mobile site and improve customer?s access to information on the go,? he said. ?Over the last few years, the MBTA has worked to release a lot of data to independent developers to build apps and services. 

?This site is a piece of the MBTA?s strategy to get customers information where they are, when they need it ? and the site is a great way to connect with customers via the new mobile customer comment form.?

Mobile information
Consumers can access the mobile site by entering http://www.mbta.com into their mobile browser.

The mobile site provides a list of trip planning apps, which were created by outside developers.

The mobile site also features Google Maps integration to enhance the user?s ability to plan a trip.  

Consumers can stay up-to-date on travel information via the mobile site

?The previous version of our mobile site had not been upgraded since late 2006 ? an eternity in mobile,? Mr. Rubin said. ?The MBTA was looking for a site that would leverage modern Web technologies.

?MBTA.com already has extremely high traffic so our goal here was to give people a better product when they come to the site,? he said.

Features
The enhanced mobile site also features a Mobile Customer Comment Form that lets consumers report concerns such as buses that fail to show and issues with the transit stops.

Via the new feature, consumers can send comments while on the go.

?A big piece of the MBTA?s strategy is making it easier for customers to get information where they are,? Mr. Rubin said. 

?We know our customers increasingly have mobile device and want to leverage those device to get riders quality information,? he said. 

Final Take
Rimma Kats is staff reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York