The new look for the MTA's website went live a few minutes ago.
For the second time in two years, the MTA has redesigned its homepage. In an effort to simplify the amount of information on its public landing page and better present customers with directions, service alerts and useful transit apps, the authority has just flipped the switch on a simplified design that borrows from transit agencies across the country and world. For a peak at the new site, check out MTA.info.
“Despite last year’s complete overhaul of our website, there was still room for improvement,” MTA Chairman Jay H. Walder said in a statement. “Today’s redesign improves further on the customer experience, adding new features and making it even easier to get real-time service information and easy-to-use travel planning.”
The website, which the MTA says was created and built in house, features a “new minimalistic design” that is “better organized and geared toward enabling customers to quickly identify the information they need.” With the new look comes some new functionality as well. The MTA has unveiled an App Center that highlights third-party transit-related apps for iPhone, Android and other mobile platforms. The new Innovation section has been designed to showcase technological improvements that improve customer service. Here, the MTA has given customers the ability to comment on these changes as well.
Finally, an enhanced Trip Planner Plus creates what the authority calls “a truly regional trip planner for the first time.” Users will receive directions for Metro-North and the LIRR as well as subways and buses, and these directions will incorporate planned service changes.
Following the debut of its January 2010 redesign, the MTA saw web traffic increase by nearly 65 percent on a daily basis. If the new redesign is a success, if information is better presented and easy to find, the authority will likely continue to see an increase in use. It is, after all, completely about customer service and putting the best face forward.
23 comments
Looks like the same old junk to me.
Also, I like how the ACE bullets are the 2nd Avenue Line color instead of the 8th Avenue Line color.
The plan is the rename 8th avenue to 2nd avenue, and promptly have a ribbon cutting on the new 2nd avenue subway. The 8th avenue subway will be canceled once again.
Are you really expecting to see an actual teal/aqua-colored train anytime in the next 20 years?
I like the new look. Haven’t looked into functionality which is of course the part we all care about.
They still have a ways to go to fix discrepancies and redundancies on the site. One example I found was with the countdown clocks link on the bottom center of the new page. The figures given on the front page are different what the figures contained in the article it links to.
Unfortunately content is not in the purview of this kind of site redesign.
This feels worse than the one before. Too bright, too many colors, and feels like 2005.
I find it amazing that they posted videos like this:
http://www.mta.info/lirr/Video/Crossing/
There are some bugs with the site, I’m using Google Chrome and some of the stuff is not showing up.
I’m using Chrome too and everything is up in comparison to the picture. You might want to check the browser for an update.
I’m using Firefox and the MNR schedule lookup for East of Hudson looks horrible. None of the boxes line up correctly and the white background box stops at the top of the page.
And, there’s an advertisement on the page for Lexmark ink! Ads!!
Obviously, some bugs need to be worked out. On this page, not only is the page titled “mta.info | Title Here”, but they promise countdown clocks on the #7 line “upon the completion of Communications Basted Train Control”. Mmmm, nothing like a nicely marinated, moist 7 train to bring you to Thanksgiving dinner.
I’d like to see live countdown clock information on the web. I’m assuming that’s not possible until the entire system is up and running. But that would be a huge boon for most IRT riders (except the Flushing line), especially overnight service.
But, overall, looks promising as a redesign.
[…] MTA.info via Second Ave SagasAve Sagas AKPC_IDS += […]
Meh. Needs some flaming letters. And frames. And some Comic Sans.
This feels worse than the one before. Too bright, too many colors, and feels like 2005.
OK, so not everyone is a hotshot web designer. How is a 2005 site design different from a 2011 site design, and who’s the Tommy Hilfiger of websites?
It looks “cooler” to me, I suppose, with all of the gradients, but harder to look at and find information. I associate lots of gradients with 2005/”Web 2.0″, but that’s just me.
My main complaint is that as a redesign, it doesn’t seem to make big changes in actually presenting the information better. There’s always a big visual change (which I don’t really think helps), but I think a successful redesign for an organization like this is more like the last one: changing the structure of the page to make important things easier to find. This feels, if anything, more cluttered/distracting.
BTW, your site is one of my favorites out there.
My biggest gripe is with the little arrows next to each entry under the “Getting there” section (top, center). They do a good job at expanding a menu, but I feel that – intuitively – clicking the same spot should collapse it. It does not. There’s a tiny “CLOSE” link on the right side of the menu.
Oh, and in seven months, they’ll need to remove Long Island Bus.
Thanks–FNY “looks like” 1999 as I am still using GoLive, but this will change soon as FNY goes to a wordpress platform sometime during the summer. I have to convert over 1100 pages though.
Using Firefox 4 on my laptop and the site is completely broken for me. Same on my Android phone’s browser.
I am using Firefox 3.6.17 on a Mac and I can’t get the service advisories to work at all (which is the main reason I go to the site). Not sure if it is a problem on their end or mine. Glad that YOU have the advisories posted for me!
Why people still use to read news papers when in this technological world
all is existing on net?