Google Transit, the lab version, was an object of much interest and fascination among PCC staff and readers of the blog, and now the non-Lab beta version is live both on Google Transit’s page, as well as the normal Google Maps page. Can you feel the excitement?
For those who haven’t followed Google Transit as closely as we have, here’s a quick refresher as to all the great things about the system from their website:
Do you live in or near a city? Want to go someplace—to the airport, to dinner, to work every day—and not worry about the hassles and expense of driving and parking? Google Transit Trip Planner enables you to enter the specifics of your trip—where you’re starting, where you’re ending up, what time of day you’d like to leave and/or arrive—then uses all available public transportation schedules and information to plot out the most efficient possible step-by-step itinerary. You can even compare the cost of your trip with the cost of driving the same route!
Put simply, it provides trip planning for those who are more comfortable using the Google Maps interface.
Of course, since it’s Google, it does so much more than that. If you’re a community (like Austin, Tx) that is integrated into Google Transit, your transit stops are now listed on the main Austin Google Maps page. Therefore, when someone pulls up The University of Texas on Google Maps there are all these little icons that show where the bus service exists. And, these little icons show the buses served and schedule times when clicked! Here’s an example:
As you can see, the map has the small blue icons integrated into this map showing the southwest side of the campus near Dobie Mall.
This is an incredible opportunity for transit agencies, as now there is a transit option when someone searches for how to get from point A to point B on Google Maps. Just to sweeten the pot even more, each trip reminds you how much cheaper your transit trip was relative to getting in a car!
It’s clear to us that every transit agency is going to get onto Google Transit in the next three years. There are going to be the early adopters, the first to benefit from the good press and the great information the site decides. Then, there are going to be that next group who get on as they realize how beneficial the service has been to others. Finally, there are going to be the embarrassed few who realize that they’re the last ones to get involved and have lost X many rides because they were too slow to adapt.
Where does your agency belong?
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