Ruti is a text-based bike-routing application developed by DVRPC and AG Strategic Design that you can use to easily get biking directions on your smartphone. To sign up for the service go to ruti.bike/register. The app will send you a text message and the phone number that you can save to your contacts.
Then you just send a text message “Hi Ruti” and follow the prompts. The text message will send you a cue sheet and a link to a map and time estimate for your trip.
Ruti uses the Google Routes API which is essentially Google Bike Directions. What makes Ruti richer than using Google Maps is that it also factors in DVRPC’s Bicycle Level of Traffic Stress and Connectivity Analysis and the Sidewalk Inventory. The API gives a few route options and the Ruti APP selects the lowest stress route. Since no on-road route is perfect the resulting map displays the high-stress road segments and the option to walk your bike on the sidewalk if they exist.
Ruti is the latest tool made possible by the Level of Traffic Stress (LTS) Analysis. This month the Bicycle Coalition participated in the DVRPC/PENNDOT Connects Bike Friendly resurfacing program where roads that are to be repaved 2022 and 2023 are being analyzed for bike lane feasibility. To date, 16 road segments have been completed or are in the pipeline for installation of bike lanes, shoulders or sharrows.
The Connectivity Analysis is the data-driven component of this process with the Coalition supplying our recommendations. There will be more opportunities to include LTS analysis in municipal bike plans, transit access planning, and connecting gaps in the Circuit Trails network.