The New York MTA uses Drupal caching to provide real-time transit information to riders. They implemented a Drupal 7 site with heavy caching, including Varnish and contributed modules. Custom modules were developed to integrate real-time transit feeds using the General Transit Feed Specification. Load testing showed the site could handle over 5,000 users per second. The implementation provides riders with up-to-date subway and bus schedules and delays.

1. How New York’s MTA
Uses Drupal Caching to
Get Riders There on Time
blinkreaction.com
#blinkreaction

2. • who we are and what we do
• significance and context
• project overview
Welcome • project management
• architecture
• technology
• implementation
• resources
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3. Building Solutions for…
Fortune 500, government & large not-for-profits

4. Enterprise Training for …
Fortune 500, government & large not-for-profits

5. Community Training & Support
Flattening the Drupal Learning Cliff
blinkreaction.com/training

6. The
Ocean
Railway
Stephen
Fox,
Harper
Collins
“In
the
autumn
of
1817,
the
Thompsons
and
their
three
associates
placed
a
noBce
in
New
York's
newspapers.
In
order
to
furnish
frequent
and
regular
conveyances
for
GOODS
and
PASSENGERS,
they
announced,
the
subscribers
have
undertaken
to
establish
a
line
of
vessels
between
NEW
YORK
and
LIVERPOOL,
to
sail
from
each
place
on
a
certain
day
in
every
month
throughout
the
year.
Thompson
and
his
partners
were
promising
a
daring
combinaBon
of
speed,
comfort
and
predictability
-­‐
qualiBes
previously
unknown
on
the
North
AtlanBc.”

7. The
Ocean
Railway
Stephen
Fox,
Harper
Collins
“In
the
autumn
of
1817,
the
Thompsons
and
their
three
associates
placed
a
noBce
in
New
York's
newspapers.
In
order
to
furnish
frequent
and
regular
conveyances
for
GOODS
and
PASSENGERS,
they
announced,
the
subscribers
have
undertaken
to
establish
a
line
of
vessels
between
NEW
YORK
and
LIVERPOOL,
to
sail
from
each
place
on
a
certain
day
in
every
month
throughout
the
year.
Thompson
and
his
partners
were
promising
a
daring
combinaBon
of
speed,
comfort
and
predictability
-­‐
qualiBes
previously
unknown
on
the
North
AtlanBc.”

9. Early
Solu*ons
&
Prototypes

10. THE
SUBWAY
Requirement
Analysis
Specifications
Information
Architecture
Wireframing
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10

15. 1960’s
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15

16. 1970’s
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16

17. 1980’s
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17

20. Passengers entering
the subway system:
Average Weekday
2009: 5,086,833
2010: 5,156,913
2011: 5,284,295
Annual Total
2009: 1,579,866,600
2010: 1,604,198,017
2011: 1,640,434,672
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22. Solution
images: mta.org
iconarchive.com
drupal.org
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22

24. Dashboard & API Key
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24

25. Pilot
Feeds
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25

26. Proactive Coordination
RASCI
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26

27. Project Planning
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27

28. Implementation at a glance
• Drupal 7
• Varnish
• Heavy caching
• Widely used Contributed modules
• 5 custom modules
• Permissions open, not moderated
• Dynamic real-time feeds via GTFS binary file
• Static feeds via separate GTFS spec file
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28

29. Edge Side Includes or ESI
… a small markup language for edge level
dynamic web content assembly. The purpose
of ESI is to tackle the problem of web
infrastructure scaling.[1] It is an application
of edge computing.
image from soasta.com
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29

30. Varnish version 3.03
image from soasta.com
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30

31. Line feeds portal architecture
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31

32. SOASTA Distributed Load Testing
image from soasta.com
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32

33. SOASTA Distributed Load Testing
5,000 users
per second!
image from soasta.com
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33

34. The Demo ‘App’
Easy
• standalone Drupal 7 Site
• mobile web theme specifically for iPhone
• admin menu, ctools, devel, features, job
scheduler, memcache, strong arm, shield
Not that Easy
No php parser for gtfs files - edited drslump
library - built for php 5.3 using namespaces -
tweeks to make it work on 5.2
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34

35. General Transit Feed
Spec - Realtime
image from soasta.com
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36. mtadeveloperresources
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36

37. Q&A
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37

38. Thank You.
blinkreaction.com
732.792.6566
ray.saltini@blinkreaction.com
evgeniy.kashchenko@blinkreaction.com
twitter: @blinkreaction
facebook.com/blinkreaction
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