Trillium Solutions blog

I missed re-posting this from Human Transit in June:

“Previous generations found freedom and flexibility through the car.  But Generation Ys find their freedom and flexibility by staying connected to their friends, family and workplaces through the various information devices – like their laptops, or iphones.

“They can stay connected on a bus or a train. They can bring the office with them. They can bring their study with them. They can bring their friends with them. They can’t if they’re driving.”

– Peter Newman, Curtin University, Perth, Australia, quoted in the West Australian

A new “transit navigation” feature in Google Maps 5.7 for Android helps unfamiliar riders use transit systems and helps familiar riders nap, read, or otherwise divert their attention.  The feature allows passengers to follow their journey along the planned route, and notifies them when to get off, either to tranfer or to arrive at their destination.

“Transit Navigation uses GPS to determine your current location along your route and alerts you when it’s time to get off or make a transfer,” said Google software engineer Chris Van Der Westhuizen. “This is particularly helpful if you’re in a city where you don’t speak the language and can’t read the route maps or understand the announcements.”

Since the feature uses GPS to determine locations, it only works for above-ground transit, not subways.

The transit navigation feature works in the background: users can browse the web, make phone calls, and use other applications while still receiving alerts.

Transit navigation is another way in which mapping features for Android have surpassed features available on other platforms.  Google Maps for Android features include free turn-by-turn driving directions, transit navigation, 3D view, MyMaps and other unique features.  As an iPhone user, I’m hoping that some of these features will find their way into the Maps application on the iPhone.  In the meantime, I use Google Maps through my phone’s web-browser for biking directions.

The transit navigation feature appears to have generated a fair amount of press, which is great for public transportation.

Here’s more information: from the Official Google blog, and the Google Maps for mobile page.  Below is a nice video that introduces the transit navigation feature.

Google Transit continues to slowly but consistently improve in response to requests from partner transit agencies and end users.  For example, the ability to select a preferred mode and type of itinerary (fewer transfers, less walking, etc.).  See this earlier blog post on this feature.

Still, there are issues that remain.  For intercity transit trips, Google Maps frequently returns long itineraries that could be significantly shortened by walking or driving only a few additional miles.

I’ve posted on this issue before, here.  This blog post shows an additional example as described by Matthew Barnes, the Intercity Program Coordinator at the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Public Transportation division.

Scenario: A potential transit passenger in Redmond, Oregon is using Google Transit to look for transit options to get to Chemult, Oregon. Not knowing anything about the location of available transit services and stops the potential passenger enters Redmond, OR as the trip origin and Chemult, OR as the trip destination.

Google Transit returns a 12+ hour travel option with three different transit agencies and considerable out of direction travel. From this result, clearly there is no “reasonable” transit available between Redmond and Chemult. The potential transit passenger resigns herself to driving alone.

But wait, by shifting the origin by just 2 miles suddenly there is a transit option with no transfers that takes only two hours.  It looks like Google Transit is adding nine and a half hours to this trip in order to save passengers from a two mile trip to transit.

Click an image or link below to see the full itinerary in Google Maps.

Redmond to Chemult, Oregon:

Redmond Airport to Chemult, Oregon (origin is ~2 miles from previous example):

Trillium recommends for our clients to conduct press outreach following the launch of Google Transit.  Yuba-Sutter Transit provides a great example of a press release disseminated about two weeks after Google Transit launched for the agency.

25-April-2011 — Yuba-Sutter Transit’s local and Sacramento route and schedule information is now included on Google Transit and Google’s Trip Planner is now available on Yuba-Sutter Transit’s website. Passengers provide the trip origin, destination and travel time and Google Transit does the rest. The Yuba-Sutter Transit Trip Planner will provide transit options for trips anywhere in the Marysville/Yuba City urban area and throughout the greater Sacramento area.

From the Yuba-Sutter Transit home page at www.yubasuttertransit.com, simply enter the necessary information in the Trip Planner by either street address, cross streets or major landmarks along with the trip date and desired arrival or departure times – for same day service or many weeks in advance. The Trip Planner will then display several options from which to choose. Each option will include directions to and from the nearest bus stop; applicable route numbers including any transfer information; and, total travel times for each trip option.

Yuba-Sutter Transit offers fixed route service in the local area and to downtown Sacramento, but Google Transit includes one-stop transfer information for trips throughout the region as Sacramento Regional Transit, Yolo County Transit and others are included in the Trip Planner. As a result, potential riders no longer need to consult bus and rail schedules from two or three different transit operators. In fact, Google Transit will even provide transit options for trips well outside of the region (to the Bay Area and beyond) by way of Amtrak connections in downtown Sacramento.

This exciting new tool was made possible through a Caltrans program to help smaller transit agencies provide convenient and accessible forms of transit schedule information. Such information on transit options improves the overall quality of service and encourages casual users, non-locals and social service agencies as well as regular transit riders to make greater use of public transit services.

Contact Keith Martin at (530) 634-6880 for more information.

Google Map Maker became available for the United States this week.  Formerly Google Map Maker was available for many other countries but not the United States.

Google Map Maker makes Google Maps more like a wiki, in the style of OpenStreetMap.  This makes it possible for users to edit places, hours, roads, and buildings.  It’s even possible to add bike lanes.

There is an approval process for changes, which considers input from other users.

This development will be useful for transit agencies that wish to fine-tune user experience for Google Transit by making local landmark and road information more accurate.

More information is available in a post on the Official Google Blog.

There is growing recognition that multi-modal travel information and booking systems benefit transportation providers and their passengers.  This may take the form of a multi-modal trip planner that helps passengers and providers more efficiently utilize available resources.  This can help to solve a costly last-mile problem.

There’s a last mile to consider for air travel.  Air travelers often end up renting cars even though local transit options are available.  Some airlines make an effort to make transit information more available to their customers.  I am a frequent Alaska/Horizon Airlines traveler.  On the airline’s ticket and itinerary pages, local transit information is included for some destinations (I am thinking particularly of the San Francisco Bay Area).

Continental Airlines has taken the ground and air interconnection a step further.  Some Amtrak services are available as codeshare “flights” in Continental’s reservations system.  Here’s more information from the Continental Airlines website:

Continental Airlines and Amtrak have teamed up to provide the ultimate in seamless travel. Through an air/rail codeshare, Amtrak will provide connecting service on Regional and Keystone trains from Philadelphia, PA; Wilmington, DE; Stamford, CT and New Haven, CT to Newark International Airport and then on to anywhere Continental Airlines flies.

Train passengers can earn Continental frequent flier reward miles for travel on Amtrak services.  Airport lounge benefits also apply at the Amtrak station.

Screenshot of Amtrak codeshare "flight" on Continental Airlines website.

I envision future transportation systems and booking will transition from mode-specificity to allow passengers to choose the most appropriate and affordable options: air, intercity bus and rail, local transit, and car and bikeshare.

There is a new feature in Google Maps.  When a pickup_tupe or drop_off_type of “2″ is specified in provided GTFS, Google Maps displays “Passengers must call agency: [agency'sphone number]” in red text.  This feature is helpful because it displays information for scheduled times that previously did not show up in Google Maps.

From the front page of the Oregonian on Sunday, January 23rd: “Oregon’s rural, intercity bus lines offer a hassle-free, affordable option for getting around”.

The piece does a great job at describing the need and purpose of intercity services.  It inventories a sample of available services in Oregon.

People are prone to be less aware of the availability of intercity services than local services because they don’t see the vehicles operating in town on a daily basis.  This article does a great job at bringing these services to light.

As part of the goal to improve awareness of the services and make it easy access to service information, ODOT is integrating information on the intercity network into Google Maps:

The next big step for ODOT, Barnes says, is to collect schedules and routes and get the data to Google so riders can simply click on the Website, put in their start and destination information, and see bus lines and schedules.

Trillium was selected as the contractor to publish and maintain GTFS data for the statewide project.  You can see the available itinerary information beginning to take shape on Google Maps.