Dadnab delivers Tri-State transit information to text messagers

Transportation startup Dadnab (www.dadnab.com) has launched a free service that helps transit riders in the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut Tri-State Region plan their trips.

Dadnab is the first and only service to cover such a large contiguous area, enabling not just New York City urban dwellers, but commuters and interstate travelers, to obtain transit information through text messaging.

A Dadnab user sends a text message with an origin and destination to tri@dadnab.com. Seconds later, the user receives a text message with the optimal routes and times to get to the desired destination by rail, bus, or ferry.

Dadnab incorporates schedule information from a coalition of 16 transit and public safety agencies in the Tri-State Region and serves a population of more than twenty million residents in the area.

Entrepreneur Roger L. Cauvin founded and operates the service.

“Prior to creating the Dadnab service, it was hard for me to use public transportation on the go; I had trouble memorizing the exact times, routes and stops for my trips,” he says. “Now I just send a text message and receive an itinerary on my phone.”

Cauvin explains that, unlike any other service, not only does the Tri-State service deliver exact departure, transfer, and arrival times in the itineraries in text messages, it also enables commuters to travel across cities and states to reach their destinations.

“You can send a single text message to find out how to get from an intersection in Norwalk, CT to Princeton University,” he continues.

In addition to entering their origins and destinations, Dadnab users can include desired departure or arrival times in their queries. Instructions, examples and support are available through Dadnab’s Web site.

Fords, NJ resident Honesto V. Pagtalunan, Jr. goes to work in Brooklyn Heights using mass transit. “One of the things I like about Dadnab is that I don't have to access the Internet from my phone to use it. I can just use text messaging,” he says.

“For example,” Pagtalunan says, “I texted 'jay st & myrtle ave in brooklyn to 9 w 18th st by 6:30pm', and Dadnab's reply told me what train I had to catch to make my 6:30 dinner reservations.”

Dadnab also serves Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Seattle.