How Google Is Remapping Public Transportation 187
waderoush writes "Google wants to 'organize the world's information,' but there isn't a marketplace or a category of knowledge it can organize without remaking it in the process. A case in point: public transportation. Largely outside the media spotlight, Google has wrought a quiet revolution over the last five years in the way commuters get schedule information for local buses and trains, and the way public transit agencies communicate with their riders. GTFS and GTFS-realtime, which Google invented, have become the de facto world standards for sharing transit data, and have opened up space for a whole ecosystem of third-party transit app developers. This in-depth article looks at the history of GTFS and Google's efforts to give people information (largely via their smartphones) that can help them plan their commutes on public transportation — and, not incidentally, drive a lot less."
Would be great... if it worked (Score:5, Interesting)
After missing three or four timed-transfer connections, I've given up on Google Maps for transit.
I'm sure it works sometimes, but since they've made it impossible to check their work (they don't give you access to the schedule data) it's a hell of a lot easier just to check the schedule myself.
That said it does work okay for short bus trips, but I've already got an app on my phone that tells me when the bus is arriving base on real-time data. No need to bring Google Maps into the picture.
Re:Would be great... if it worked (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Would be great... if it worked (Score:5, Interesting)
Where I live, the local bus company's web site [kolumbus.no] is terrible. It's difficult to use, forces you to fill in forms over and over again when you make changes, can't figure out where you are or where you want to go half the time and frequently has issues figuring out transfers at all. Worst of all, the bus company never seems to have current route information posted at the bus stops.
Since Google started supporting transit directions in Stavanger, Norway [g.co], my life has been so much easier. I especially love the Android (Gingerbread) integration. I have shortcuts on my home screen that will show me the best route and next three busses from wherever I am to my home, work and down town. It's amazing.
If you regularly use public transit, it's worth your time to see if Google supports your city.
Now the only thing missing is real time route information. I can't wait until that feature comes to town. Sadly the bus drivers are rarely on time and make a sport of speeding away when they're early and you're sprinting for the bus.
Buses US only? (Score:4, Interesting)
Somebody please tell this to the Japanese. While their bus service is decent enough, getting information about routes and timetables here is virtually impossible. All the Japanese bus company websites are still Web 0.8, there are many many private bus companies even within the same city and there's no one service that aggregates all the information.
Google Bus would be a great service here. They have already done it for trains, which works really well.
Multi-Modal Trip Planning (Score:5, Interesting)
Google Transit is not news to those of us who work in transportation. I work in Sustainable Transportation/Transportation Demand Management and my job is to get people to do (practically) anything but drive a car alone. Since I also work at a University, it's also my job to convince students not to bring cars to school (at least for the first few years) and it would be SO MUCH EASIER if I could convince Google to jump into multi-modal trip planning. Why?
Well, let's assume you're at my University and want to get somewhere 85 miles south without a car. You might be able to bus to the local train station, catch a southbound train, and then catch another bus to your final destination. However, the bus service here is contracting (sharply) due to budget constraints so a bus connection to a train will not always be an option.
I often suggest biking to the train, riding the train, and then biking to the final destination, but since Google Maps treats transit (bus/train) and biking separately, my suggestion can only go so far. It requires some rather involved planning for a novice to get from our campus to the train station by bike.
There are other options like OpenTripPlanner which, when coupled with a well-mapped OpenStreetMaps, can be an incredible way to plan multi-modal trips in addition to mapping out literally everything in an area from streets to bike lanes to sidewalks, stairs, and handicap accessible ramps... but it takes A LOT of work to perfect a local map and then to host an OpenTripPlanner server. It's relatively easy, but it's man-hour intense.
So, come on Google, pretty please.
Re:We don't WANT to be like you... (Score:3, Interesting)
“The biggest thing holding us back in the U.S. is land use patterns,” says Brian Ferris, a Google Transit engineer based in Zurich, Switzerland. “European cities are more compact, so public transportation dollars go a lot farther. In the U.S., huge parts of our cities were built after the automobile came to prominence. But we can’t change American cities tomorrow.
California doesn't want to change in order to be like Switzerland. What makes him think that we would? We don't see Southern California as a problem that needs to be fixed. We see it as an improvement over compacted cities.
You must not be driving the freeways here.
Re:Would be great... if it worked (Score:5, Interesting)
In South Australia the transit services all use Google now, and it's really accurate. I'm at uni, so I'm using it all the time, and I've never had a problem. I have friends who have done more serious bus based travel, with multiple transfers, and they've had no problem. It's made their route planning a lot easier, and they can now minimize their wait times.
I've had nothing but good experiences with the whole system.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Would be great... if it worked (Score:2, Interesting)
You do realize that the local transit map and the Google feed are the same thing right? As someone who has actually worked on this particular feed, they're both pulled from the same source. It's not like Google has anything to do with the actual feed data... they should rightly get credit for the feed specification and the medium in which it is relayed to the people. But it's the agencies that create the feeds that get uploaded to Google for use.
NextBus is real-time, and better (Score:4, Interesting)
NextBus [nextbus.com] has been providing real-time bus data for years, and doing it better than Google. NextBus did all the hard work to make this work - they developed the position-reporting boxes that go on buses over a decade ago, got transit systems to adopt their technology, and developed a prediction system that figures out when the next bus will show up, based on live data and history. They even put signs in bus shelters that tell when the next bus will arrive.
There was substantial opposition in the transit industry at first. Some transit agencies didn't want accurate data on their operation publicly available. Some of them still don't. But the ones that do find it useful. The transit agency gets all the bus data and can evaluate how their operation is working.
Then some clown writes an article as if Google invented the technology. This is more like the old MIcrosoft tactic of "embrace, extend, devour".
Re:Would be great... if it worked (Score:5, Interesting)
I must second that - I rely heavily on Google Maps in Perth, and in fact it's helped me avoid needing a car for the last five years. I only recently got one to make it easier to get out of the city, go windsurfing, and get around on sundays.
The only issue I've ever had with Google Maps transit in WA has been the odd special-occasion public holiday or special event where Transperth appears to have failed to inform Google of the schedule changes. That can be annoying. On the other hand, Google Maps had perfect data about all the New Years' Eve special and adjusted services, so they're clearly getting it pushed most of the time.
I cannot possibly praise Transperth and Google enough for Google Maps Transit. It's fantastic, and it's a real shame that so few people seem to know about and use it. It was a real lifesaver when I last visited Auckland, too, as I could just use Maps instead of having to fart about with a different city's transit systems and timetables. Fantastic!