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Google Transit Now In Beta
KIondike writes "Google's introduced Google Transit, a new Lab product where users (or, "people") can map trips around their city using public transit. From the Google Blog: 'With it, commuters will be able to easily access public transit schedules, routes, and plan trips using their local public transportation options. This first release covers only the Portland, Oregon metro area, but we are working to expand our coverage very soon.' The amount of data they give seems very comprehensive, including time you'll spend walking to the bus or subway, and the amount of money it would cost compared to driving."
The examples are: e.g., "pdx to 100 nw couch st, portland, oregon" or "pdx to portland, oregon at 7pm"
Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.
So not only can google track my email, what I search for, but now they know where I planning on traveling too!
The problem with most transit systems and websites is that, like your link, they assume you already know what bus/train/etc. you want to take. What this service (and many 'trip planners') do is allow you to simply input the start and end locations, and it will determine what route(s) can be used and show you how to get there.
The DC Metro system has had a trip planner availabe for years now:
Metro Trip Planner
I always though that most major metro areas with well-developed public transit systems had something like this.
Maybe theyre calculating the cost of maintenance that accumulates as you drive... i.e oil change, oil filter, air filter, fluid replacement ($20 here, $10 there it adds up)....Chances are if youre driving a junker, its costing you more than just gas to get reliably from point A to point B
One aspect of this service that I'm looking forward to is a single interface for transit info, no matter which system I'm using. Users only need to learn the Google interface, not the subtle nuances of different sites.
Some MAX stations simply don't seem to exist to Google Transit, especially on the westside blue line, and the streetcar seems to be absent too. Since this is Portland, OR only, it didn't seem to localize very well unless the city and state was added to the address. Thankfully, TriMet's Trip Planner does a much better job!
Hell google search was a dup of the other search engines :)
I think their point of difference is it doesn't need a download and will be integrated with all their other search functions.
I'm sure Metro is great but google's offering is quite different.