

Google Maps now has schedules for 1 million public transit stops - ashbrahma
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/google-maps-now-has-schedules-for-more.html

======
crazygringo
So why can't they show the routes for bus lines???

Clicking on a metro station in lots of cities will draw colored lines of all
the metro stations that pass through it. E.g., Times Square:

[https://maps.google.com/maps?q=type:transit_station:%22Times...](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=type:transit_station:%22Times+Sq+-+42+St%22&t=h&ie=UTF8&hl=en&view=map&ftid=0x89c259ab49ca241b:0xb22a3843c5b03c10&ftt=5140&geocode=FVrgbQIdWQqX-w&split=0&sll=40.755290,-73.987495&sspn=0.000000,0.000000&iwloc=A&ved=0CBQQpQY&sa=X&ei=RBosUNbmFuWSxQHa4YGYAw)

But this doesn't work for bus routes, which would be 1000x more useful.

Because, with a metro, you can look at a metro map and easily figure out which
lines pass through the station -- there are usually only 1, 2, or maybe 3.

But in a lot of cities across the world, there might be 30 bus lines that stop
at an intersection, and printed maps don't even exist of the bus lines because
there are just too many to draw.

But Google could show the 30 bus lines instantly, so you could actually see
how they fan out the further away you get, and you can easily figure out which
of the 30 buses, if any, go to your desired neighborhood.

I've been waiting for this feature for YEARS... and it still doesn't exist. :(

~~~
chris24
It must depend on the data they're given. I can see bus lines in Toronto, but
not in Waterloo, ON, for example.

------
Matt_Cutts
Note that Google's transit directions were a true 20% project when it launched
in 2005:
[https://plus.google.com/109412257237874861202/posts/bwFAz9KZ...](https://plus.google.com/109412257237874861202/posts/bwFAz9KZye2)
When it launched, it was all 20%-ers working on it.

~~~
akldfgj
Will we ever see a 20% project like this again?

Remember these days?

[http://googlepress.blogspot.com/2004/04/google-gets-
message-...](http://googlepress.blogspot.com/2004/04/google-gets-message-
launches-gmail.html)

"(Google requires engineers to spend a day a week on projects that interest
them, unrelated to their day jobs). "

\-- Google Press Release

------
pkulak
I find it interesting that Apple is adding driving navigation with no transit
or bicycle directions (apart from third-party apps) while Google seems to be
really putting a lot of effort into public transit. This is all while car
ownership is plummeting among youth, the people who I thought were Apple's
core user base.

~~~
Samuel_Michon
With iOS 6, Apple released Transit APIs that let third party devs (read:
public transit providers) add public transit data themselves.

 _“The new Transit APIs, referred to by Scott Forstall at 108:58 in Monday's
keynote, allow developers to register their app as a directions provider for
routing directions for a particular set of coordinates. It will then be
displayed in the list of available third-party apps for transit. Clicking a
transit app launches that app, passing the start and end values to the app.
Contrary to other analysis, transit routes can't be displayed inline from the
Maps app.”_

This seems to me like a clever move, this way Apple won't have to collect all
the data.

<http://waxy.org/2012/06/busting_the_ios_6_transit_map_myths/>

~~~
justinph
How many quality transit applications are out there and maintained enough by
their public agencies?

I predict that Apple's API cop-out goes precisely nowhere.

~~~
milesskorpen
Hopefully Google Maps will be the best provide for this data in any given
location, once they make their own iOS app.

~~~
Samuel_Michon
Why would they do that? Google stands little to gain and a lot to lose by
offering a good Google Maps app for iOS.

Many of the features they offer for Google Maps on Android haven't been
implemented for iOS (turn by turn navigation, interior views, floor plans, 3D
models, etc.)

Google is already polluting the iOS Maps app with sponsored listings,
degrading the user experience severely. I doubt that a separate Google Maps
app for iOS will be any better.

~~~
smackfu
Seems like you answered your own question there. Why would Google make a good
maps app? So that people on ios use it and they can show them sponsored
places.

~~~
Samuel_Michon
IMO, a Maps app with ads or ‘sponsored places’ is a shitty app. I will always
choose a paid app without ads over a ‘free’ app with ads. That's also the main
reason why I backed App.net.

When I wrote about a ‘good Google Maps app for iOS’ I meant one that has
feature parity with Google Maps on Android and contains no ads. Up until two
years a go, the Maps app on iOS was such an app.

------
tokenadult
The submitted blog post from Google says, "Since 2005, we’ve collaborated with
hundreds of transit authorities around the world to make a comprehensive
resource for millions of riders to find out which bus, train, subway or tram
can take them to their next destination." And I will note for the record that
in the Twin Cities in Minnesota, where the transit provider is Metro Transit,
Google Maps has been for at least two years a BETTER interface for looking up
transit trips with easier usability than the Metro Transit website. I have
discovered many interesting public transportation connections between unlikely
places at unlikely hours of the day by searching Google Maps for my trips.

The bicycle information is also unmatched, and very helpful in the number-one
bicycling city in the United States.

[http://www.bicycling.com/news/featured-stories/1-bike-
city-m...](http://www.bicycling.com/news/featured-stories/1-bike-city-
minneapolis)

On 8 October 2010, I had a very gratifying reply from the Google Maps team
after reporting a problem with many of the Google Maps bicycling directions in
Minneapolis:

"Your Google Maps problem report has been reviewed, and you were right! We'll
update the map soon and email you when you can see the change.

"Report history "Problem ID: A12D-84A0-3A9F-A05E

"Your report: Many biking directions to locations on the West Bank campus of
the University of Minnesota from suburban locations west of Minneapolis
mistakenly go across the Mississippi River to the East Bank campus, even when
the correct destination address is entered to select the bike route."

I was glad they fixed the problem, and especially glad about the friendly way
their follow-up was communicated to me. It is this kind of response to a user
error report that makes me eager to tell friends about Google Maps and leads
me to tend to forget that there are still other companies in the geographical
information business. Similarly, after I made a couple of suggestions to
Google, it seems that Google has systematically improved its once APPALLING
mapping of youth soccer fields in Minnesota, crucial for me as the parent of
three "travel" soccer players.

~~~
mitchty
Metro Transits site is a horrid abomination.

Just wonder how long until iOS gets the google-ified google maps that has all
the transit information.

------
untog
Also a key play in Google Now. From my office I automatically get a card for
the bus stop located outside- I switched it off because I don't use that stop,
but I'm interested to see how close I have to get to the subway for it to
work.

------
cuchosan
To achieve this, Google has introduced the GTFS (General Transit Feed
Specification) format [1] which is becoming the preferred way to publish
transit data. Hundreds of transit agencies around the world are publishing
their GTFS feeds, enabling many hackers around the world to make applications
that consume this data and improve users' travel experience.

[1] <https://developers.google.com/transit/gtfs/reference>

------
ajb
This is cool, but I can't help thinking that it's unambitious, for Google.
Let's imagine:

The product is not called 'Google Transit', but 'Google Teleport'. It is an
auction-based system, like adwords. You click where you want to be, instantly
a variety of costed journey options are listed, each of which can include
segments using anything from walking to taxis to public transport to
international flights. Google takes it seriously as a product, because it
generates revenue. Over time, the system allows new, cheaper, faster, more
energy-efficient transport options develop, such as minibus-taxis, which pick
up and drop multiple passengers whose routes coincide.

Well, it's nice to dream. I think that it will happen eventually, probably as
an outgrowth of one of the taxi-based startups.

------
Samuel_Michon
The HN title is misleading. According to the article, Google Maps hit a
milestone of 1 million public transit stops, Google didn't recently add 1
million stops.

~~~
jemfinch
That's exactly what the title says. It doesn't say Google has one million
_more_ public transit stops.

~~~
ashbrahma
Samuel_Michon was right. I fixed the title after he pointed it out.

~~~
Samuel_Michon
Thanks!

------
lindablus
I live in SF, and it's great to see the schedules on google maps, but the
estimated time for arrival is off as of now.

~~~
packetslave
Possibly because the last time SF public transportation was running on-time
was in 1972.

------
barista
So long OneBusAway....

~~~
sadga
Google has had Seattle bus schedules for years, and OneBusAway has _tracking_
, not schedules. Schedules are useless.

~~~
zheng
I wouldn't say schedules are useless, they are actually pretty helpful to
humans (e.g. the bus is scheduled for 5:13, but in rush hour that means it
will probably be there closer to 5:20). Tracking is clearly more helpful if
available, however.

As an aside, thanks to the GP for showing me OneBusAway, it's exactly what
I've been looking for!

~~~
akldfgj
A bus 7 minutes late during rush hour, that's funny.

During rush hour, bus arrival times are randomly distributed between 7 minutes
late and "so late that you could say the next bus was 1 minutes early" (Any
later and you just can't prove whether the bus that arrived was 30 minutes
late, or the previous bus was abducted by aliens)

------
salman89
It would be nice if Google opened this up in some API, but having an API for
this doesn't really align with their goals.

~~~
yellowbkpk
By creating the GTFS file format and convincing dozens of municipalities to
use it, they basically did create an API. Except the transit organizations are
running it and Google's using it to draw people into their products.

~~~
salman89
This is not an API. An API would be a service that takes these feeds in,
parses it, and makes it easily query able by different factors.

~~~
chrisbroadfoot
APIs are hard. You need to give it time.

