For those interested in the TrafficGauge device, the first question may be what does it give drivers that traffic reports on the radio can’t.
Ryan Peterson and Eric Meyer, TrafficGauge’s co-founders, said there are several advantages. First, the device is always on, so the information is instantaneous. Second, it can be carried in a pocket or purse, so people can look at it anywhere.
For Snohomish County drivers, there’s one drawback. The coverage of traffic conditions ends at the intersection of I-5 and I-405 in Lynnwood, so nothing north of that point is shown.
Meyer said he’d like to expand the device’s coverage to include the entire area from Everett to Tacoma, but the State Department of Transportation needs to install more wire sensors in the freeways to be able to track traffic north of Lynnwood.
Still, Meyer said, about one in five of TrafficGauge’s customers lives in areas outside the device’s coverage map. That’s because it can be useful to anyone headed for the Eastside or Seattle from the outlying areas.
If there was anyone who might see TrafficGauge as competition, it would be Gary Taylor, who’s in charge of Seattle’s largest traffic information service. He’s the regional general manager for Metro Networks, which provides traffic information to most of Seattle’s radio and TV stations.
But he said he welcomes any additional tools to help keep commuters moving.
“If anything, I think we certainly complement each other,” he said.
While TrafficGauge provides instant information and convenience, he thinks radio traffic reports can give more precise information on why traffic is backed up at a particular point.
“We put up a helicopter and three airplanes and have a staff of thirty-some people who analyze and track traffic,” Taylor said.
He also thinks the human touch in traffic reporting can help, in that Metro’s reporters can suggest alternative routes that look good.
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