Traffic reports without choppers

Like thousands of other commuters, Melissa Hirshson tunes into traffic reports on her car radio, but she doesn't always find them helpful.

''If they say there's an accident somewhere, I think, 'Good, if they're reporting it now, it's clear by now,' " said Hirshson, who commutes from Waltham to Boston. No matter what station she tunes in, the information, she said, is ''virtually identical."

Radio reports focus on the big picture, trying to squeeze information for all of Greater Boston into limited air time. But most commuters care only about their specific routes. A rollover in Reading is rarely relevant to someone driving from Dedham to downtown. For specific information, some commuters visit traffic websites or telephone for automated reports.

Now, commuters have more options. Decades after radio stations put spotters in helicopters, new methods of gathering and disseminating traffic data are emerging, methods that combine roadside sensors, automobile navigation systems, and wireless connections to provide real-time customized traffic information.

These options often come with a hefty price tag, and some consumers question to what extent such detailed information can help commuters, who may have limited routes to choose from. But several companies are betting there is a market for services that can cut the hassle of getting from here to there and back every day.

Traffic.com has begun offering a service in the Boston area that largely relies on a network of roadside sensors to send reports about traffic conditions along specific routes to subscribers' cellphones and BlackBerrys.

Other companies, such as XM Satellite Radio, use the Traffic.com data to feed reports to dashboard computers that display color-coded traffic maps. ''Heavily congested roads appear in red, and roads change color as traffic conditions improve." The map takes its cues from the pole-mounted roadside sensors, which use radar and acoustic devices to monitor data about the volume and speed of traffic along well-traveled stretches of major highways. The information is transmitted through wireless and satellite connections to a vehicle's computer.

Traffic.com isn't the only company using technical innovations to complement traffic reports.

SpeedInfo, a California rival, has deployed sensors along many major highways in the San Francisco Bay area. Itis Traffic Services Ltd., an Israeli subsidiary of a British company, is testing ways to measure traffic by monitoring the movement of motorists' cellphone signals. When more vehicles are equipped with global positioning systems, the car itself may become a traffic sensor.

''Cars that talk to each other may be the wave of the future," said Jeff Larson, general manager of Smart Route Systems Inc., a traffic-monitoring firm.

Customized real-time traffic reports don't come cheap. Devices made by Pioneer Electronics and Garmin International to display color-coded traffic maps in your car cost $1,200 to $2,300. Dashboard computers on certain Acura and Cadillac models also provide real-time traffic information.

These NavTraffic systems are fed real-time data by XM Satellite Radio, which uses Traffic.com's sensor readings to develop traffic reports for Greater Boston. XM charges a $9.99 monthly fee for NavTraffic, or $16.94 a month if a consumer also chooses to subscribe to XM's satellite music, talk, and sports channels.

NavTraffic is far superior to what traditional radio stations can offer, XM spokesman David Butler said. ''With NavTraffic, there's a constant stream of current information that's personalized to the route you're driving."

One shortcoming with systems that rely on expensive roadside sensors is that they are deployed only on major highways, leaving secondary roads uncovered.

Estimotion, a system that Itis Traffic Services is testing in Israel and Belgium, collects information by tracking cellphone signals from commuters making calls from their cars, regardless of whether they are on the freeway or a side street.

Tracking cellphone signals ''gives us more data and more cheap data," providing a more comprehensive picture than a network of sensors, said Itis Traffic Services' chief, Israel Feldman, who used to develop war games for the Israeli Defense Forces.

Using cellphone signals to monitor traffic makes sense to Howard Hayes, a vice president at Navteq Corp., a Chicago company that provides digital map information for mobile navigation systems.

''Cellphones will be passively sniffing where cars are and how fast they are moving," he said.

In other words, some day traffic monitors may chart the progress of vehicles along specific routes by constantly tracking cellphone signals to determine the traffic conditions.

Advocates of the new traffic services say they are a quantum leap ahead of the information currently available through standard radio reports.

''Charlie in the Chopper is a marketing guy," said Doug Finlay, chief executive of SpeedInfo. ''He says traffic's heavy on 128.' And you say, 'Boy, am I glad I'm not there.' He's not providing information, but entertainment."

But WBZ-AM (1030) general manager Ted Jordan said he's not concerned that the new technologies might threaten BZ's ''Traffic on the 3's" franchise, the traffic reports that air every 10 minutes through much of the day.

''As long as I can remember, people have been predicting the end of AM radio," Jordan said. ''Television was going to kill it, then FM radio. But AM just kept morphing."

Jordan said most consumers won't pay for the newfangled traffic reports, which he said can't compete with the mix of news, weather, sports, and traffic served up by familiar personalities at WBZ.

The station compiles its traffic information from many sources, including ''WBZ's Phone Force" -- volunteers who phone in reports on their commutes.

For the ''average Joe schlepping to work," WBZ's traffic coverage can't be beat, said one member of the Phone Force, Dedham secretary Barbara Allen. ''You can't improve on free."

Still, some frustrated commuters question whether traffic reports are useful at all -- whether they are free or for a fee.

If the Massachusetts Turnpike is heavily congested during morning rush hour, there are few practical alternative routes to the city, said Southborough commuter David Souers.

''Even if the information is real-time, there is nothing you can do with it," Souers said. ''The reality is that there are no faster alternatives to the Mass. Pike from due west, at any speed. The only alternative to a better commute is better roads, not better traffic information."

Chris Reidy can be reached at reidy@globe.com.