Google Transit coming to Twin Cities
Tuesday, August 05, 2008 at 11:11 am
- 6 Comments
Metro Transit officials have revealed that the organization has "shared its data" with Internet behemoth Google. The revelation would suggest that Metro Transit passengers will soon be able to plan their trips in the Twin Cities using the Google Transit feature in Google Maps.
The program does more than most other trip planners, giving commuters the option of public transit, driving or walking directions. The partnership would also make Metro Transit route information more easily accessible on mobile devices.
It is unknown how Google Transit will complement Metro Transit’s recently announced trip planning tool called NextTrip, which provides real-time departure and schedule information to customers through Metro Transit’s website, by phone or at select transit stops in the Twin Cities.
Metro Transit is far from the first transit system to get on the Google bus. The Duluth Transit Authority became the 13th city added to Google Transit last year and reported a reduced call volume in its call centers and increased ridership, though some have questioned the service’s ridership-boosting powers.
Advocates of mass transit hope that a trip planner that is easier to use and understand will ultimately encourage more people to use public transportation. There is no word on when the Twin Cities will be added to Google Transit, but some are already working on having bike routs added to the service.
6 Comments
Comment posted August 5, 2008 @ 2:30 pm
erica,
curious what issues you’re having with the new NexTrip via mobile devices? the text based one works perfect on my BlackBerry Pearl, both with the BB browser and with Opera.
prior to that, i agree, their site was useless on anything other than an iPhone, and even then… PDFs = blah.
Comment posted August 5, 2008 @ 12:00 pm
I attended a technology-related focus group at MTC in March of 2006. A couple big things that kept getting brought up: better mobile accessibility, more intuitive online trip planning and integration with Google. From what I understand, they were already looking at ways in 2006 to work with Google – I’m not sure what took so long. :-)
Comment posted August 5, 2008 @ 11:29 am
I’m irked that Metro Transit’s route information isn’t already more accessible on mobile devices, but okay. I’ll take Google.
Comment posted August 5, 2008 @ 6:29 am
I'm irked that Metro Transit's route information isn't already more accessible on mobile devices, but okay. I'll take Google.
Comment posted August 5, 2008 @ 7:00 am
I attended a technology-related focus group at MTC in March of 2006. A couple big things that kept getting brought up: better mobile accessibility, more intuitive online trip planning and integration with Google. From what I understand, they were already looking at ways in 2006 to work with Google – I'm not sure what took so long. :-)
Comment posted August 5, 2008 @ 9:30 am
erica,
curious what issues you're having with the new NexTrip via mobile devices? the text based one works perfect on my BlackBerry Pearl, both with the BB browser and with Opera.
prior to that, i agree, their site was useless on anything other than an iPhone, and even then… PDFs = blah.
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
