San Leandro Road Warrior Gets Daily Intelligence Briefing

Mikal Mekki calls 511 every morning, sometimes more, to check on Bay Area traffic conditions. So the odds were good that the millionth call to the region’s popular, toll-free travel information service would come from his cell phone. Sure enough, when the meter clicked past the million-call mark this past Tuesday morning, Mekki was on the other end of the line.

"I live in my car," said the 29-year-old San Leandro resident, whose work as an independent sales associate for Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc. takes him throughout the Bay Area and beyond. "I might be driving to the South Bay one day, into San Francisco the next, or out to Antioch or Stockton. The day 511 rolled over one-million, I was calling to check traffic on the bridges before going to an appointment in the city."

"The voice activation is really sharp," Mekki continued, pointing out one of the key differences between 511 and the Bay Area’s previous travel information number, which required callers to navigate through a push-button choice menu. "I love high-tech gadgetry, and this is so easy that my son, who is 6, and my daughter, who is 4, can call out the freeway numbers for me while I’m driving. They like it so much that sometimes they argue over who gets to talk to 511."

Mekki said that 511 helps him use his time more efficiently. "The fact that the information is real-time allows me to make decisions about which way to go. It’s accurate. It’s on time. And it’s always available."

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) — through a partnership with 35 transit operators, 20 paratransit providers, Caltrans, the California Highway Patrol and RIDES for Bay Area Commuters Inc. — introduced the 511 phone service and a companion Web portal at www.511.org in December 2002 to provide timely, on-demand information for drivers, transit riders, carpoolers, vanpoolers and bicyclists throughout the Bay Area.

San Leandro Mayor and MTC Commissioner Shelia Young was not surprised that the millionth caller to 511 is a resident of her city. "Because San Leandro is at the center of the Bay Area freeway system, drivers have a lot of choices about which way to go. 511 makes it quick and easy to find the least troublesome route to take."

511 is a free call from any land line telephone in the Bay Area. The only cost to cell phone users is the deduction of minutes from their plans. Wireless carriers offering the 511 service in the Bay Area include AT&T, Cingular, Metro PCS, Nextel, Sprint and T-Mobile. Verizon is expected to activate 511 service within the next few months. The 511 phone system is currently handling nearly 200,000 calls a month. That compares to 50,000 to 60,000 calls a month last year with the old seven-digit number. "Simplicity is the key," explained MTC Chair Steve Kinsey. "The Bay Area 511 system is a leap forward in customer convenience because it’s so easy to use and easy to remember."

Usage is expected to increase further in the weeks ahead as new features are added to both the 511 phone system and the 511.org Web portal. These include an all-new, comprehensive transit information page scheduled to debut on 511.org in mid-October; a high-tech system that provides —via phone or Web — actual driving times from point to point along the Bay Area freeway network; and a new carpooling initiative known as Rideshare Thursday.