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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."
Portland's tri-met system already has an excellent trip planner. Google's transit applies that along their map as they do with driving directions. Can't wait to see this for other cities!
Here in Brussels, Belgium there is something similar... At least if you combine it with Google maps. .. You can enter an address and it'll let you choose between the lazy but longer way or the fastest way (take a little hike.) It also shows the times the trams are coming and everything. Only downside is that it is in French, and theres no searchability. www.stib.be
I may be wrong but you're downright ugly!
For the bus system in Ottawa, OCTranspo has provided an application for just such a purpose. You can enter starting and ending destinations, and it tells you how to get there, including walking times and wait times. It works quite well, and isn't something I expected to get for free. It's called the Travel Planner.
OCTranspo
...is the sound of everyone at HopStop shitting their pants. Shame, because HopStop works really well, at least for NYC.
At what point does google know so much about us they know more than big brother? They are doing more and more and people are embracing them. At least Big Brother has enough politics to slow it down and enough oversight to not have to many bad things happen. You can't vote out Google.
There goes my karma. And I await my Google Overloards Code Red visit tonight.
Evolution or ID?
Well, I guess the value is that google will have a collection of many transit systems from all the world* as most public transport agencies offer that (e.g. bernmobil for Bern).
Moreover, it's far from implmenting very useful things such as :
- real-time delay (e.g. STIB "synchro") :
- SMS (e.g. the '222' service for all local & national public transport in Switzerland)
* the world.google.com being USA, CA & UK, of course.
#include "coucou.h"
I think this is great. A big reason people don't use public transport in urban areas is that often it is just too much of hassle to figure out the schedule, especially when you're going somewhere new.
What they need to do next is to work with the municipalities* to integrate GPS tracking on all city buses so anyone, anywhere, can get real time info on when the next bus will arrive. No more waiting at the bustop in the rain!
*This probably won't happen, at least in cities like Boston, where the unions have a stranglehold on the public transport system. They are dead set against GPS tracking. They would no longer be able to cover up just how inefficient and horrible they really are. They last thing want is somebody to start compiling databases about their on-time percentages.
Population of denmark: round 5 milion.
Those are not cities boy, they are towns.
Lets see if google ever gets to Mexico city. 35 million people leave there, we have 6 million cars just there, diferent companies providing public transport which cannot even be made to put adult drivers on their busses.
Google.... meh. If they ever attempt mexico city, i promise, theyll go bankrupt.
NO SIG
I live here in Portland, Oregon. I just got directions from my house to school, and it gave WAY better directions than the current system we have. www.trimet.org
GOOGLE ROCKS!
Information isn't the only criteria: it's the quality of the way in which it's delivered. I live in the suburbs of a major mid-western city, and while they have an online trip planner it's worse than useless. It's incredibly picky about case and syntax, typically requires half a dozen "searches" until it comes up with something close to what you want. Doesn't inspire confidence, that's for sure. If nothing else, if Google can keep their information accurate and up-to-date their presentation of it will make them a winner.
... you have to find something for them to do. That's just as much true for a few thousand buck privates as it is for a bunch of Ph.D's and engineers.
Rather than being spread too thin, I think Google's problem is more akin to a typical standing army: they have all these people standing around being paid
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
What I'm really looking forward to is realtime data from wireless geeky folk as they exit the subway, so we can know where the trains are and how fast they're moving. I wanna know if I should stroll, jog, sprint, or give up and bike.
*This probably won't happen, at least in cities like Boston, where the unions have a stranglehold on the public transport system. They are dead set against GPS tracking. They would no longer be able to cover up just how inefficient and horrible they really are. They last thing want is somebody to start compiling databases about their on-time percentages.
There was a big scandal in Boston not too long ago about just that happening with (sometimes private contracted) snow plow drivers - they started putting GPS on the plows & let's just say there was a lot of sleeping on the job going on & contracted routes just plain not getting plowed.
"There was a big scandal in Boston not too long ago about just that happening with (sometimes private contracted) snow plow drivers - they started putting GPS on the plows & let's just say there was a lot of sleeping on the job going on & contracted routes just plain not getting plowed."
Funny. About a year ago, the unions were protesting putting GPS on school buses. You should have seen the TV newscast. The union head was frothing at the mouth about 'Big Brother' and John Ashcroft, when all people wanted was a way to improve the on-time performance and allow parents know where the kids were. See:
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/article
It'll show you on a map where your nearby bus stops are, and when you plan a journey will show you on a map which stops that you need to catch the bus or change at.
This is in spite of the fact that bus services in the UK were privatised in the 80's, and rail was privatised in '94-'95 - and hence are operated by multiple different companies. Indeed bus companies are completely deregulated, and can more-or-less do what they want (except in London).
It'll tell you the route numbers, who operates the bus or train, what facilities are on board if it's a train, station details (including phone numbers for taxis, and the current departure boards for the station). It's not perfect - but it generally makes the same decisions that I would when choosing services. I have occasionally had it make stupid choices, but not often.
As an example, planning a journey for tomorrow from my house in a small town (without a train station) to my parents' house in a small village (with only a few buses a day), succeeded in finding the same options I would have chosen, both if driving or by public transport (bus -> station in nearest city. train -> london. tube across london. train -> nearest city. bus -> parents' village). And the driving instructions were spot-on.
The UK is supposed to have the worst public transport in Europe. But if the UK government can manage this, then surely an organisation with much more technical prowess can. As anybody in Public Transport will tell you, the first thing you need to do to get people to consider public transport is to tell them their options. It helps the environment, the public transport user, and the driver. In short, it helps people. The US government should be getting involved in these kind of projects - helping get this information in the public domain. Because oil is a finite resource, and its price will just keep going up!
I also live in Portland. I'm not sure what you mean about the trains, as it seemed to be accounted for reasonably in my test route from my house to the airport.
But, it seemed to have some other problems. First, it had me walking for 25 mins to a bus stop to catch a bus that was going to be there in 10 mins. Oops. Second, it had drawn a line "as the crow flies" for my walking route; a route that I can guarantee would take me at least 40 mins or more to walk, accounting for winding through the neighborhood, waiting at crosswalks, etc.
So, maybe a few kinks to work out yet.
>> to a typical standing army: they have all these people standing around being paid ...
Yes, why do you think the Iraq war happened ?