Posts tagged Metro
More metro Detroiters using religious apps to help deepen understanding, faith
Feb 27th
A year ago, Matt Kush would lug around two thick binders of church music to find the right piece.
Now, the music and worship director at St. Kieran Catholic Church in Shelby Township just sets an iPad on his piano stand and reads off the screen using an app — a software program for mobile phones and devices.
“I love it,” said Kush, 26, of Rochester. “It’s so much easier to use,” and it contains his entire music library.
From reciting Catholic prayers to reading the Torah to finding halal restaurants, religious folks are increasingly using apps to connect with God.
This month, Zondervan, a Christian publisher in Grand Rapids, is offering 1 million free downloads of a popular Bible translation. Also this month, a company released a Catholic confessions app, touching off a debate about the intersection of technology and religion.
Some worry that too many gadgets and programs can substitute for real connection with people and with God. But many religious leaders and worshipers are increasingly attracted to the hundreds of religious apps available.
Apps have religious following
In Farmington Hills, a rabbi plans to use an app to find kosher food for his family on an upcoming trip to Disney World.
In Warren, a devout woman reads Catholic prayers and texts daily through the iBreviary app.
And in Dearborn, a Muslim man uses apps to alert him when it is time to pray.
Across the region, religious metro Detroiters are turning to apps on their mobile devices to deepen their faith. Some caution against relying too much on such technology, concerned that it weakens one’s ties to the real world and his or her religion. But many people say apps are convenient tools that make it easier to understand and connect with God. They see the apps as a way to evangelize their faith with attention-grabbing gadgets that draw in the curious.
“It can attract someone who otherwise would not have looked,” said Rev. John Riccardo, a tech-savvy Catholic priest who is pastor at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Plymouth. He uses several of the 10 religious apps on his Apple iPhone daily. “It’s a way for the Holy Spirit to grab a person and draw them closer to God.”
From www.freep.com
Delhi Metro to have new online customer care number
Dec 26th
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has decided to introduce a new 24×7 helpline telephone number, 155363, from January 1, 2011.
A DMRC press release said the new number would replace the existing one, 128128 from that date and would provide better connectivity from GSM and CDMA mobile telephones.
It hoped the new number would help provide easy access and speedy solutions to public queries and complaints. The old number would become non-functional from the same day, it said.
The release said DMRC had received many complaints from commuters that the old number did not connect from some GSM/CDMA mobile phones.
The new number has been provided with caller identification and recording facility. The concerned officials will be immediately informed about the complaint to ensure that a quick solution is provided to the same.
Mobile users and even callers residing outside Delhi can avail the service by calling on the number 011-155363. However, the calls made on this service are not toll free.
The service would be of special benefit to the physically challenged commuters who can call on this number and seek assistance from the Metro staff by informing in advance which Metro station they would reach so that they can be helped. Delhi Metro provides wheel chair facility to old and physically challenged commuters in all the Metro stations.
The online customer care cell is working from Delhi Metro’s Shastri Park depot since October 2008 and answers on an average about 150 calls in a day pertaining to train timings, feeder bus services, fares, Metro routes and so on, the release added.
NNN
20 Metro stations get phone bill payment machines
Dec 19th
New Delhi, Dec 19 (IANS) With the installation of multi-service payment machines at 20 Metro stations across the city, commuters will be able to pay mobile phone bills or recharge phones on the move, an official said Sunday.
According to the Delhi Metro, the touch screen machines named ‘Unipay’ can be used by commuters by inserting currency notes in it.
‘After selecting the desired service and service provider to either pay a bill or recharge a phone, the user can type his mobile number and proceed with the transaction by inserting the required money in the machine’s designated slot,’ a DMRC official said.
The machine accepts currency notes up to the denomination of Rs.1,000 and generates a receipt after the transaction, added the official.
At Metro stations in Jahangirpuri, Dilshad Garden, Anand Vihar and Noida City Centre, the machines have been installed in areas which people can approach without paying a charge or buying a Metro ticket.
The remaining 16 machines have been installed in those areas of stations where users would have to buy a ticket or pay a charge. These stations include Karol Bagh, Dwarka Sector 9, Rajiv Chowk, Kashmere Gate, Akshardham and Central Secretariat.
These machines will be installed in all 132 Metro stations within two months, said the official.
‘In the coming months, users will also be able to use the machines to pay electricity and water bills, insurance premium and recharge direct to home service, book tickets for rail, air and cinema and avail tourist packages,’ the official said.
Now, recharge your mobile, pay phone bills at Metro stations
Dec 19th
New Delhi, Dec 19 (PTI) Found that you have low balance on your mobile phone while travelling on Delhi Metro? Don”t worry!
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has installed multi-service payment kiosks at 20 Metro stations in the capital to allow commuters to pay their mobile bills and recharge their phones.
The facility will be available at select stations from today and commuters can make use of it by inserting money in the slot provided in the machine.
“The public can make monetary transactions like mobile bill payment and mobile recharge through this facility,” a DMRC spokesman said.
The touch-screen machines are designed in such a way that the user can easily make the payment for recharge or pay his bill in just seconds. People using all major connections like Airtel, Vodafone and Idea can make use of the facility.
“These machines are touch screen-based and the user can select from the desired service and service provider from the screen to either pay a mobile bill or recharge a mobile number,” the spokesman said.
The user can type the mobile number using the keypad on the touch screen and proceed with the transaction by inserting the required money in the designated slot, which will accept currency notes up to the denomination of Rs 1,000.
After the transaction, the user will get a receipt.
The spokesman said the DMRC will gradually upgrade the machines so that commuters can pay their electricity and water bills, insurance premium payment, DTH recharge and book tickets for rail, air and cinema.
Delhi Metro currently has a ridership of nearly 17 lakh on all the six lines and it is set to increase when the Airport Express Line is opened to the public.
As this is the first time that Metro has installed such machines at stations, the DMRC thought of installing them in few stations before extending them to all 132 stations.
Currently, almost all the stations have cheque drop boxes which enable commuters to drop their bill payment cheques.
The multi-service machines have been installed in Jahangirpuri, Dilshad Garden, Anand Vihar, Noida City Centre, Rajouri Garden, Rajendra Place, Karol Bagh, R K Ashram Marg, Dwarka Mor, Dwarka Sector 9,, Rajiv Chowk, New Delhi, Inderlok, Kashmere Gate, Rithala, Yamuna Bank, Akshardham, HUDA City Centre, Central Secretariat and Chandni Chowk.
Denvas Services Pvt Ltd have manufactured and installed these “UNIPAY” multi-service machines at the Metro stations, the spokesman added.
Metro-North Railroad waits on quiet car idea [The Stamford Advocate, Conn.]
Nov 26th
[November 25, 2010]
Metro-North Railroad waits on quiet car idea [The Stamford Advocate, Conn.]
(Stamford Advocate (CT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Nov. 25–STAMFORD — An ongoing shortage of seats on the New Haven line makes it unlikely Metro-North Railroad will move to designate so-called quiet rail cars, a long-discussed option where mobile phone use, loud conversation, and electronic devices that produce noise are prohibited board, officials said.
A committee formed this year considered the possibility of a quiet car program similar to one adopted by New Jersey Transit this fall, which reserves the first and last cars on designated trains for a subdued atmosphere, Metro-North spokeswoman Marjorie Anders said.
The arrival of the state’s M-8 rail cars are expected to reduce some crowding on New Haven line trains, but the railroad doesn’t want to introduce the program when it is also introducing the new equipment.
“We’re not saying we’ll never consider it again, but for the time being we don’t have enough seats for everybody riding the train,” Anders said.
After launching a pilot Quiet Commute program in September, the designated cars have been so well-received by New Jersey commuters on the busy Northeast corridor trains between Trenton, Hamilton, and Princeton Junction, that New Jersey Transit is planning to expand the program in January to the 148 morning and evening peak trains arriving and leaving from Newark Penn Station and New York Penn Station, N.J. Transit spokesman Dan Stessel said.
“For years, a quiet car option has been at or near the top of the list in terms of requested customer amenities,” Stessel said.
Stessel said New Jersey Transit decided to test the new policy this fall after a ridership decline of about 2 percent in the last year and the introduction of a new fleet of 234 multi-level rail cars lessened concerns about a seating crunch.
Conductors on the Quiet Commute trains use specially made business cards that explain the program in English and Spanish, without disturbing others on the car.
The agency hopes to extend the program to its other four lines before the end of 2011, Stessel said.
“The consideration that precluded us from doing it sooner was extremely high ridership and the capacity of the system,” Stessel said. “With the increased capacity of the new multi-level fleet we now have the flexibility to offer quiet commute without having to be disruptive to customers.” Connecticut Rail Commuter Council Chairman Jim Cameron said he understood establishing the noise-free cars would remain a lower priority than making sure the new fleet of 342 to 380 M-8 rail cars can accommodate the future demand for seating.
The state Department of Transportation is conducting on-the-track testing of the first batch of cars from Kawasaki Rail Corp., with the first cars expected to be in service sometime in December.
Cameron said introduction of the new cars could also be an opportunity to test out policies such as quiet cars, and that a significant group of riders would have a strong preference for trains with a noise-free car.
“Yes, there is a crowded condition and not enough seats for every passenger, but when that situation changes over the next couple of years, to add this extra layer of customer service might be good,” Cameron said. “While I agree that we should be concerned about crowding, with a new rail fleet arriving could it also be time to consider new policies and rules too?” Public Transportation Bureau Chief James Redeker, who oversees Connecticut’s rail and bus lines, said he believed that the a public awareness campaign encouraging courteous behavior might yield better results than compulsory quiet cars.
“I’m just not sure how effectively you can enforce it,” Redeker said. “If you tell somebody to be quiet they might not listen.” To see more of The Stamford Advocate, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.stamfordadvocate.com.
Copyright (c) 2010, The Stamford Advocate, Conn.
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Mobiles go dead on C-Sec Metro line
Sep 22nd
GURGAON: At a time when life without a mobile phone is unthinkable for most of us, hundreds of Metro commuters find themselves cut-off from the rest of the world once their trains enter the underground section of the newly-opened Gurgaon-Central Secretariat line.
It’s been close to three weeks since the line was opened to the public but Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has still not ensured mobile connectivity for its users, leaving them all alone and unable to talk to anybody in the outside world for more than half an hour. That is the amount of time the trains take to cover the distance between Qutub Minar and Central Secretariat.
And if technical snags like the one that took place on Monday h it the Metro line, the ride can take up to an hour. Many commuters said that in such cases, they are not even able to inform their offices that they will get to work late. The bad news is that Metro commuters will be unable to use their phones on this stretch of their journey for at least a week.
The mobile phone cut-off zone begins at Central Secretariat and stretches to Qutub Minar station. All trains on the route are always jam-packed, making the journey hard enough for Metro users. “I feel handicapped without a phone, it is an unimaginable situation, it is a nightmare,” said Shalini Arora, who works with an IT firm.
Commuters said it is a scary prospect for a mobile phone to go off while travelling in a Metro tunnel. “It is a big worry that you cannot call for help. The other day the Metro got stuck in the tunnel, close to Hauz Khas, but I was unable to tell my office that I was stuck and that I would reach work late,” said Praveen Gupta.
Another Metro user, Deepak Mohanti, said, “It is ironic that Metro trains have sockets to charge mobile phones in but that on this stretch, everybody’s phones go off. The Metro is to be blamed.”
Mobile phones begin to spring back to life when the train gets on to the elevated track near Qutub Minar. “By the time the train reaches Qutub Minar, the phones have started working. But commuters who board a train from Connaught Place, for Gurgaon, have to deal with more than 30 minutes of being cut-off from the rest of the world,” said Rajiv Saxena, another daily commuter.
DMRC officials said they have taken note of the problem and have started laying mobile phone cables along the route. “Once the cabling work is completed, which we hope will take only a week, commuters will not have a problem,” said an official.
