Here’s an intriguing Twitter application: Commuter Feed. The idea is fairly simple. Drivers stuck in traffic (don’t text and drive out there!) send a tweet to Commuter Feed’s Twitter account (commuter), in the following format:

@commuter (SPACE) citycode (SPACE) incident

So if I get stuck on my way home tomorrow, I might send in something like:

@commuter BDL I84 E snarled Exit 44

Of course, I would have to know in advance that BDL is the IATA code for Hartford’s Bradley International Airport, not something a BOS or PVD flyer like me would know right off the bat. Thankfully, the folks at Commuter Feed were nice enough to put together an easily navigable list.

I’ve started following commuter on Twitter so I can get a feel for how the updates work. In the “How It Works” popdown on the site, though, it seems as if updates are only available on the site right now:

• Visit the Commuter Feed for your city
  Make sure to bookmark your local Commuter Feed page to have quick access to the latest incidents and reports from your area.

Instead, I would love to be able to follow feeds for specific cities on Twitter (maybe I’d follow something like commuterBOS or BOScommuter, or something like that), or at least be able to get an RSS feed by city that I might be able to manipulate for my needs.

I’ll be patient. I am hopeful they’ll go through some quick incremental improvements (I wish they had a blog that would tell me such things, for example!). After all, how can CommuterDaddy not love a brand like Commuter Feed?

p.s. Thanks to Yoni Greenbaum for putting Commuter Feed on my radar.