Google Maps Public Transportation option gets tested, loved

by Darren Murph posted Jan 24th 2009 at 11:59PM

Let's face it -- we love it when our mobile makes our lives easier, and according to a quick and dirty review over at Gadling, that's exactly what the Public Transportation piece of the updated Google Maps app does. Upon straying out into San Francisco with only clothing, an iPhone 3G, a few coins and a destination address, reviewer Grant Martin was able to figure out exactly what steps / stops needed to be taken, how long the journey would take and how costly it would be. All without visiting a website or hunting down a route schedule. Overall, he was pretty jazzed about the possibilities, though he does caution that the actual mass transit systems you use could inevitably let you down. Any of you given this a go? Love / detest it?

Filed under: Software, Apple, iPhone OS

Tags: directions, gps, iphone, nav, navigation, public transit, public transportation, PublicTransit, PublicTransportation, routing, software

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Highly Ranked

Abe Palomino @ Jan 25th 2009 12:16AM

Good!
now all they need is MMS!!!!!!!!

Neutral

DaveZatz @ Jan 25th 2009 12:24AM

No love in the DC metro area. Our main transit authority (WMATA) won't share data with Google. :/

Neutral

luv_carrier_branding_:) @ Jan 25th 2009 1:43AM

lol our comments look similar

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carcomptoy @ Jan 25th 2009 12:31PM

I was wondering why it wasn't working. I was just up in D.C. for the March for Life, and I was trying to get the public transit feature to work, but no avail!

Neutral

luv_carrier_branding_:) @ Jan 25th 2009 1:42AM

this isnt really useful if your on the underground metro :\

and no LA love?

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bbrim @ Jan 25th 2009 1:49AM

I have been using the feature on the Blackberry for a while. Its Great. The times are pretty accurate too. Whats sad is NYC is spending millions working on a train arrival/departure display and Google pretty much does the same.

Neutral

Brandon @ Jan 25th 2009 2:09AM

When the big winter freeze hit in Portland last month, cars were out of commission. It was 4x4 or Mass Transit.

Luckily, we 3G owners had a reliable way to track down the buses.

I used my iPhone religiously to get me from place to place and how to know when to stop, change, etc. My wife even text me from her silly little T-Mobile phone to ask me to route HER commute and tell her what buses she needed.

Things worked out great. The problem was that when the buses went on snow routes, Google didn't know any better. It seems they just use the standard routes and don't re-configure them for extenuating circumstances. And when the buses finally couldn't move and had to cancel a bunch of lines, Google had no idea what was going on.

Neutral

JesseBurton @ Jan 25th 2009 2:58AM

I did this just this morning!!! I woke up on a friend's couch after a long? night of partying, not really knowing how I got there and vaguely remembering parking my car in a completely different part of the city... So trusty google maps with public transit info, got me on the buses I needed to get back to my car, with the least amount of walking and waiting, which was good, because I had apparently left my coat in my car and had but a short sleeved shirt and jeans on, and it was about 19 degrees outside. Google Maps...I LOVE YOU!

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Big Sam @ Jan 25th 2009 3:56AM

Works great in Dallas. I've tried it on a Windows Mobile device and on the PC. Even tells you what time the next train/bus should be there.

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Maikel @ Jan 25th 2009 1:02PM

Tried this feature on the iPhone about 2 days ago. The arrival time for the bus was very accurate, and the commute was shorter also because I got off one stop before the one I usually do and walked just one block instead.
Very useful. Thank You Google!!!

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aBax @ Jan 25th 2009 9:06PM

This has been working flawlessly in Columbus on WinMo. Gotta watch out for the slow COTA buses though.

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Bill @ Jan 26th 2009 1:33PM

on windows mobile, I have version 2.3.0.9. Should I have something even newer than this version?

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firesign3000 @ Jan 26th 2009 3:39PM

no love for cincinnati. stupid metro.

Neutral

Auston @ Jan 27th 2009 6:39PM

Aata was working but now it dose not even give me the option. I am mad because I use it all the time. It even had the updated constrution routes.

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Jonno @ Mar 13th 2009 3:03AM

not working here in Toronto just yet, the TTC has yet to get all of its routing info up there (though for you iPhone users in Toronto, there is an app launched by our transit system specifically for the iPhone... I found that rather stupid but then my Diamond can access the full transit website so I don't really care much). But then, when it does, it'll make things a heck of a lot easier for getting places within Toronto.

Funny enough, York Region (district directly above Toronto) has their info up on Google Maps -_-