Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Know when your bus is late with live transit updates in Google Maps


(Cross-posted on the Official Google Blog)

Often when I’m taking public transit, I arrive at my stop on time only to anxiously check my watch and look down the street for my bus, which is running late once again. Those extra minutes I’m forced to wait seem like an eternity, and the only information I can access on my phone is when the bus was supposed to arrive.

Starting now, Google Maps for mobile and desktop can tell you when your ride is actually going to arrive with new live transit updates. We partnered with transit agencies to integrate live transit data in four U.S. cities and two European cities: Boston, Portland, Ore., San Diego, San Francisco, Madrid and Turin.



When you click on a transit station or plan a transit route with Google Maps and there are delays or alerts related to your trip, you’ll now see “live departure times” (indicated with a special icon) and service alerts.



Live transit departure times after tapping on a station



Live service alerts when receiving transit directions



Live departures and alerts on desktop


We’re working with our public transit partners to help them provide live data to more people in more cities. You can get live transit updates in the latest version of Google Maps for mobile (requires Android 1.6+), as well as Google Maps on all supported desktop and mobile browsers.

Posted by Sasha Gontmakher, Software Engineer
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22 comments:

  1. BrockJune 8, 2011 at 8:04 AM

    London as well please! Transport for London makes a lot of this data available through APIs.

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  2. drhappyJune 8, 2011 at 8:50 AM

    pleeeeeeeeeeeeease wire up the ttc in toronto, on, canada!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Miami305guyJune 8, 2011 at 8:59 AM

    please Add Miami Dade Transit and Broward county Florida transit.

    ReplyDelete
  4. ChinJune 8, 2011 at 10:01 AM

    GET ON IT SEPTA!

    ReplyDelete
  5. ramonJune 8, 2011 at 10:35 AM

    and add DC too !!

    ReplyDelete
  6. PaulJune 8, 2011 at 10:56 AM

    Don't worry about adding Zurich - there's no need.

    ReplyDelete
  7. A-loJune 8, 2011 at 10:57 AM

    My dream mapping & transit feature! DC pronto please.

    ReplyDelete
  8. FarooqPSKJune 8, 2011 at 11:03 AM

    When is in INDIA?

    ReplyDelete
  9. AndresJune 8, 2011 at 11:45 AM

    NYC Much Needed....... Great Job N Keep It Up Google

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  10. kinosJune 9, 2011 at 3:28 AM

    Great innovance !! and now in Madrid !!co

    pd:Salu2,ADSL VODAFONE.

    ReplyDelete
  11. ofraJune 9, 2011 at 3:52 AM

    such a great idea, can save so much time. Is it working in London already?

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  12. DigorgomJune 9, 2011 at 7:17 AM

    When it will be possible for Moscow, Russia?

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  13. tubesteakJune 9, 2011 at 1:17 PM

    Nice to see this here in Portland. Too bad there is a long-standing bug that prevents one from being able to click on a transit station while the 'Bicycling' layer is active. After turning on the cycle paths layer, the map icons start behaving erratically. Most business icons, landmarks, and transit stations become 'unclickable'.

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  14. tubesteakJune 9, 2011 at 1:19 PM

    I should have specified that my issue occurs in the mobile Maps app for Android, I have not experienced issues with the desktop web app.

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  15. enotswhatJune 9, 2011 at 5:53 PM

    any chance we can set up a trip planner using the transit mode? Not just a A to B but A to B to C To A etc...?

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  16. Christopher GutteridgeJune 10, 2011 at 12:00 AM

    Southampton's doing it for ourselves; http://opendatamap.ecs.soton.ac.uk/

    Click bus stops for times.

    All data available as .json and .rdf

    ReplyDelete
  17. AnonymousJune 10, 2011 at 6:39 AM

    Any news on this coming to the UK?

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  18. QuinnJune 11, 2011 at 8:56 AM

    This would be great if it actually worked, but I am in SF and only see scheduled departures on my desktop and on my Android phone. No live departures as of yet. What a tease!

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  19. Pixel BufferJune 11, 2011 at 3:59 PM

    A very similar thing exists for Chicago: ctabustracker.com. It even plots little bus icons moving around the map. You can also get bus arrival info by text message. Google should be able to integrate this info into Maps, eh?

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  20. ScottieJune 13, 2011 at 4:30 AM

    i did see some mobile ads that there is a new scheme for london for the Olympics but i dont know whether it is going ahead with the spending cuts. anyone got any ideas.

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  21. Marcus TuckerJune 13, 2011 at 12:43 PM

    If only London was included - full data for all TFL services is readily available, please integrate it soon!

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  22. AnonymousJune 15, 2011 at 7:11 PM

    We all know the public transit story: everyone’s unhappy for whatever reason they choose as “topic of the month,” but this time around though, I found something a tad more interesting, and that’s Bombardier’s latest multibillion dollar victory. Maybe I’m just a sucker for corporate drama, but this may be worth a glance for you as well: http://www.pressdisplay.com/pressdisplay/showlink.aspx?bookmarkid=LH6VO8R7RKC1&preview=article&linkid=f304d9c0-23d7-4a4a-8941-4885a2d11ee2&pdaffid=ZVFwBG5jk4Kvl9OaBJc5%2bg%3d%3d

    In any case, enjoy :)

    ReplyDelete

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