frequently asked questions

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions...

Traffic.com Overview

Who is Traffic.com?

Traffic.com is one of the largest independent providers of traffic information and services in the U.S. We deliver traffic content to clients and consumers on terrestrial and satellite radio, on broadcast and cable TV, through wireless applications and services, and via the Internet. The Traffic.com site and the companion MyTraffic site at my.traffic.com are our primary "direct to the consumer" online services.

You can learn more about Traffic.com and our business by going to:
http://corporate.traffic.com.

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Where does Traffic.com get traffic information?

We get our information from three types of sources: digital traffic sensors, commercial and government partners, and our traffic operations center staff members. Our own network of sensors is already deployed in many major metropolitan areas, and is rapidly expanding to additional cities. Where local or state government agencies have available data from their sensors or systems, we integrate as much of that data as possible as well. Finally, we maintain traffic operations centers for each of the cities we serve, staffed with employees who consistently monitor traffic conditions.

The traffic operations staff use a variety of means (such as listening to police and fire scanners, monitoring traffic cameras, driving cars, and flying helicopters or fixed wing aircraft) to collect information and enter into our systems. All of the information we obtain from these varied sources is combined together to provide you with the most complete, accurate, and timely traffic information possible.

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How often is your information updated?

Our traffic information comes from a variety of sources. Sensor networks generally update flow information every one to five minutes. Incident information is added and updated continuously throughout the day by our traffic operations staff. Because our information is being constantly updated, our pages show you a warning when the traffic information is more than 5 minutes old. Traffic can change quickly and we recommend that you get the latest before you head out the door and on a long drive you might want to check again on the phone before you get to areas that generally have heavy traffic. For more on setting up phone access go here.

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When will Traffic.com cover my city?

Traffic.com is continually expanding our coverage to serve our users and clients. Check back with us regularly for new and improved traffic information and services.

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Traffic Questions

Can Traffic.com help me with my traffic problems?

If your problem is traffic congestion and finding the right roads at the right time with the fewest problems, then yes, we can. However, we cannot help you with traffic citations, parking tickets, malfunctioning traffic lights, or bad drivers.

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Can Traffic.com tell me about a specific accident in the past?

Traffic.com does not provide this service at this time. If you would be interested in this kind of service please let us know by using the form on our request help page.

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Is Traffic.com a government agency?

Traffic.com made its initial public offering on Jan 26, 2006. Our stock is traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol TRFC. Our corporate web site has more information.

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Using Traffic.com

What are hotspots?

This tab shows you the roads that have the worst traffic problems right now. Click on a hotspot to see the detailed traffic report for that roadway, where we show you the traffic conditions on each major section of that roadway.

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How do I use the traffic map?

The map tab provides the map for the city showing flow and incidents. Flow is a measure of how fast the traffic is moving on that road, and is indicated by green, yellow or red coloring of the roads. This data is available wherever we have our own sensors, or access to our partners' sensors. Incidents are indicated by triangles on the map, color-coded based on their severity. Incidents include things like accidents, congestion, and construction.

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How can I get traffic information for my frequent commutes?

Create a custom "drive". How do I create a drive?

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What is the Traffic.com Jam Factor^®?

The Traffic.com Jam Factor is like a "Richter Scale" for traffic. It's an overall measure of the traffic intensity on a roadway, or on a section of a roadway. Because the Jam Factor calculation uses real-time speed and travel time measurements from our digital sensors and those of our partners, as well as our detailed accident, construction and congestion information, it's a comprehensive measuring tool that is unique to Traffic.com.

The Jam Factor is measured on a scale of 0-10, with 10 representing the worst traffic conditions. This numerical scale also provides color coding to give you a quick, at-a-glance picture of conditions on the roadways or personal MyTraffic drives you care about.

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What are the Jam Factor^® arrows?

When you look at the Jam Factor bar in our traffic reports, you might notice small arrows pointing to the left or right like this.

These Jam Factor Trend arrows tell you if traffic is getting better or worse. Arrows pointing to the left mean traffic is moving toward a lower Jam Factor, an arrow pointing right means conditions are getting worse. A single arrow means it's changing slowly, two or three arrows indicate that conditions are changing more rapidly. No arrows mean that conditions have been the same for a while and aren't changing.

You can use the Jam Factor Trend to tell if you should get on the road now, or wait a while. If the trend is getting worse you might want to wait until it starts to get better or look at traffic details to help plan an alternate route. If the trend is getting better rapidly, you may want to start your drive even though the Jam Factoris still fairly high.

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What cities does Traffic.com cover?

All of the cities listed in the metropolitan areas page.

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What do the different colors and symbols on the map mean?

The Map Legend (shown below) describes what each of the colors on the map indicates. You can see this legend any time by checking the Show Legend box underneath the map

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What do the brown lines on the map represent?

The brown lines on the map represent roads for which we do not yet have digital sensor coverage. This means that we provide incident reporting, such as accidents and disabled vehicles; however we do not measure the actual speed of passing cars.

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Can I view the Traffic.com on my WAP Phone or PDA?

Yes, see the WAP FAQ for more information.

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MyTraffic Overview

What is MyTraffic?

MyTraffic is a service from Traffic.com which lets you personalize your Traffic.com experience. Finally, you can get exactly the traffic information that you care about without having to wade through a lot of irrelevant information.

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Does it cost anything to use Traffic.com or MyTraffic?

NO! Traffic.com and MyTraffic, including all of our online and wireless services, are completely free to you.

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What do I get with a MyTraffic account?

• A personalized MyTraffichome page (my.traffic.com)
• The ability to save your custom traffic alerts (see below for more on custom traffic alerts and drives)
• An online summary of the current traffic conditions on each of your saved alerts
• Detailed traffic alerts for each of your drives
• Custom traffic alerts sent to your desktop, mobile e-mail device or phone(voice) based on the criteria you define (see below for more details)
• A telephone number that you can call any time to get the latest traffic information on your saved alerts
• A personalized RSS feed for your drives.

Of course, you can still get non-personalized traffic information from the city pages, in case you want to browse traffic conditions for a city, or part of a city, outside of your saved drives.

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Using MyTraffic

What is a MyTraffic home page?

Your MyTraffic home page is your one-stop location for traffic information that is most relevant to you. On a single page, you get the current traffic conditions on the alerts you have saved in your MyTraffic account.

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How do I get to my home page?

Go to my.traffic.com. If you selected Remember Me when you logged in last, you'll go directly to your MyTraffic home page. Otherwise, you will sign in with your MyTraffic username and password and then be taken to your home page.

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What is a custom traffic alert?

A custom traffic alert is exactly the traffic information you need when you need it.

To set up a custom traffic alert, you first have to set up a drive, and then define when, why, and how you'd like to receive your traffic information.

For example, you might wish to receive your traffic alert via a telephone call at 8AM each morning, and an e-mail each week day at 4:45PM.

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How do I create a drive?

Here are the steps to create a drive:

1. Sign Up for MyTraffic.
2. Click the ‘MyTraffic’ tab.
3. Click the ‘Add a Drive’ button.
4. Follow the directions for the drive wizard.

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How do I delete a drive?

Here are the steps to delete a drive:

1. Sign into http://my.traffic.com
2. Click on the Drive name
3. Click ‘Edit Drive’ to the right of the Drive's Name
4. Click the ‘delete drive’ button to the right
5. NOTE, you'll need to delete any associated Alerts, first

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What is a custom drive?

A drive is a combination of the roads that you take for your commute from one place to another.

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How do I create an alert?

Here are the steps:

1. Create a custom drive.
2. Go to the "Drives" page.
3. Click the "Alert Me" button.
4. Follow the directions for the alert wizard.

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How do I delete an alert?

Here are the steps:

1. Sign into http://my.traffic.com
2. Click on the ‘Alerts’ tab
3. Click on the ‘DELETE’ button to the right of the alert

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How many drives can I set up?

You may save up to 20 drives. Drives may cover different destinations (e.g. from home to work, or home to school) as well as different paths to and from those places (e.g. home to work by two different roadways) to help you compare and choose the best way to go.

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Why do some of my drives show speeds, delays and travel times while others don't?

As described above, Traffic.com uses our sensors, along with those of our agency partners, to measure speed, travel times, and delays. While we are continuing to deploy additional sensors in many metropolitan areas, and continuing to integrate new public agency data as it becomes available, we do not haves detailed digital data on all highways.

For roads, or sections of roads where we do not measure actual traffic speed, we still use our other sources of information to find out about, and report on, traffic incidents such as accidents, disabled vehicles, general congestion, and construction.

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What is an alert?

An alert is information about traffic conditions on one or more of your drives that we send to you when and how you ask for it. Alerts can be sent on particular days and at particular times (for example, every weekday at 7:30 am) or can be sent only when conditions on one of your drives crosses a certain threshold (for example, when the Jam Factor exceeds 4.5).

You can have your alerts sent to your desktop e-mail, mobile device, or by an automated phone call.

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How do I create and access my alerts?

After you create a drive, you can automatically create a alert for it by checking the box next to "I also want to set up an Alert", when you save it.

You'll then be taken step by step through the Alert set up.

From your MyTraffic home page, choose the Alerts link on the menu bar near the top of the page. That will take you to your alerts page. From there, you can create a new alert or edit any one of your existing alerts.

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How many alerts can I set up?

You can set up to six (6) alerts. Each alert is for a primary drive and up to three alternate drives.

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How can I stop my alerts while I'm away or on vacation?

You can temporarily stop your alerts by suspending your alert:

• sign into http://my.traffic.com
• click on "Alerts"
• click on the "SUSPEND" button to the right of the alert

When you return, to reactivate it:

• sign into http://my.traffic.com
• click on "Alerts"
• click on the "ACTIVATE" button to the right of the alert

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What are primary and alternate drives?

When you set up an alert, you always define one primary drive that is your main route and the one we monitor for traffic conditions. Once you've defined the alert for the primary drive, you can add alternate drives to it. We don't monitor the alternates for traffic conditions, but when we give you a alert on your primary we try to include summary information for the alternates.

How this information is included varies depending on the type of alert. In desktop e-mail alerts we include Jam Factor summaries of the conditions on all of the alternates. In the mobile e-mail alerts, we do not include alternate information. In voice alerts you can ask for alternates during your call to quickly get the information about them.

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How can I rename my drive(s)?

1. Sign into http://my.traffic.com
2. Click on the ‘Drives’ tab
3. Click on the Drive name
4. Click ‘Edit Drive’ to the right of the Drive's Name
5. Update the Drive name
6. Click ‘save changes’

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Can I update or edit my alerts?

You can update your alerts to send your alerts to a different email address or phone number, reflect changes in your schedule, adjust the conditions that must be met to receive alerts, or add and remove alternative drives.

To edit your Alert:

• Sign into http://my.traffic.com
• click on "MyTraffic"
• click on "Alerts"
• click on the "EDIT" button to the right of the Alert

You can update the following information, by selecting the "EDIT" button to the right of:

• "This alert is called:" to change the name
• "Alerts will be sent to:" to change delivery option
• "Daily Alert:" to start/stop daily delivery, including days/times
• "Conditions Based Alert:" to start/stop conditional delivery options
• "Alternate Drives:" to add/remove Drives

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What are the browser requirements for Traffic.com?

Traffic.com is designed to work well on modern standard compliant Web browsers like Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, and Netscape 6 or above. The site requires that JavaScript and cookies be enabled for most of its features.

The traffic map uses Macromedia Flash and requires the Macromedia Flash plug-in.

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How do I get additional support for MyTraffic?

For additional MyTraffic support, please go to our Online Support Page.

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Does Traffic.com provide telephone support?

At this time Traffic.com does not provide telephone support, please go to our Online Support Page.

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How do I reset my password?

Click on the Forgot your password? link. Enter your username or e-mail address, and click Next. Check your email account. If you can no longer access the email account you originally signed up with, please go to our Online Support Page to request help.

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Do I have to sign in to get to my account information?

Yes. While you can check the Remember Me checkbox when you sign in, this saved sign in only allows you to access your traffic information. To change account information, you have to explicitly sign in using your username and password. This extra step provides the highest level of security and privacy.

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Where are my email addresses and telephone numbers stored?

They are stored under contact information, which is a sub-link under the my account menu.

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How do I change my home city?

• Sign in to http://my.traffic.com
• Click on my account on the top green menu bar
• Click on contact information
• Change Home City selection
• Click on the Save button

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How can I have my alert sent to my Blackberry or PDA as a text email?

To have alerts delivered to your mobile device, you'll need to register your mobile email address:

• Sign in to http://my.traffic.com
• Click on my account on the top green menu bar
• Click on contact information
• enter your phone's email address in the "Mobile Email (Primary)" field
• NOTE, a phone's email address should look something like 1234567890@mobile.provider.net
• NOTE, This service is primarily for phones, but any email address can be entered here
• Click on the Submit button

Then, when you create your alert click the radio button next to "Text Email" and select the Mobile Email address from the drop down list.

To update an existing alert:

• click on "MyTraffic"
• click on "Alerts"
• click on the "EDIT" button to the right of the Alert
• click on the "EDIT" link to the right of "Alerts will be sent to:"
• click the radio button next to "Text Email" and select the Mobile Email address from the drop down list
• click on "APPLY CHANGES"
• review your changes, scroll down and click on "SAVE ALERT"

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How can I receive my alerts as phone alerts?

To have us call you and deliver your alert over the phone, you'll need to register your phone number:

• Sign in to http://my.traffic.com
• Click on my account on the top green menu bar
• Click on contact information
• scroll down to the "Phone Information" section
• enter your phone number in the "Phone (Primary)" field
• NOTE, you can register up to two numbers
• NOTE, if you want to call for On Demand Alerts from a different phone, also enter four digits in the "PIN Number" field
• Click on the Submit button

Then, when you create your alert click the radio button next to "Voice" and select the phone number from the drop down list.

To update an existing alert:

• click on "MyTraffic"
• click on "Alerts"
• click on the "EDIT" button to the right of the Alert
• click on the "EDIT" link to the right of "Alerts will be sent to:"
• click the radio button next to "Voice" and select the phone number from the drop down list
• click on "APPLY CHANGES"
• review your changes, scroll down and click on "SAVE ALERTS"

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How do I use the Traffic On Demand service?

To take advantage of our On Demand service you'll need to register your phone number:

• Sign in to http://my.traffic.com
• Click on my account on the top green menu bar
• Click on contact information
• scroll down to the "Phone Information" section
• enter your phone number in the "Phone (Primary)" field
• NOTE, you can register up to two numbers
• NOTE, if you want to call for On Demand Alertss from a different phone, also enter four digits in the "PIN Number" field
• Click on the Submit button

Then, when you want to know the current conditions for your drive, call our toll free number or . If you have more than one drive created, you'll be prompted for the drive you want an update for.

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Can traffic alerts be sent via SMS?

At this time, mobile traffic email alerts are sent via plain text to a mobile device. Traffic.com traffic alerts are typically longer than the 160 character limit that some mobile providers enforce for SMS messaging. For more information, see the SMS FAQ.

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Can I plan a drive from my home city to another city?

No. Currently the MyTraffic service does not have functionality that allows you to plan a drive from one metropolitan area to another. You can, however, set up two separate drives; one for each respective city and both drives can be included in a single alert, one as the primary and the other as an alternative.

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What RSS feeds does traffic.com offer?

Traffic.com offers a city-based RSS feed and a personalized RSS feed. The city-based feed provides information on traffic incidents on pre-defined roads. The personalized MyTraffic RSS feed gives you information on the custom traffic alerts you set up on Traffic.com.

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How can I cancel my MyTraffic account?

To cancel your Account:

1. Click on the ‘my account’ tab
2. Click ‘cancel account’
3. Select a reason from the list
4. If you have a moment, please add any additional comments you have about why you're cancelling
5. Click ‘SUBMIT’

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