The process of getting around by public transit will soon get
smarter with the addition of San Benito County bus routes to the
Google Transit application.
The process of getting around by public transit will soon get smarter with the addition of San Benito County bus routes to the Google Transit application.
The Local Transportation Authority this month agreed to a nearly $37,000 contract with a consultant who will work on getting the local routes coded into the system. It is designed to provide information on routes, schedules and fares. The project is fully funded with a federal grant.
“Once it’s coded, when you go to Google Maps and type in directions and click on transit options, it’ll plan a trip from Hollister to Monterey or up through the north San Francisco Bay,” said Betty LiOwen, a transportation planner with the San Benito Council of Governments. “It will give you three route options depending on when you want to leave and when you want to be there, and it will also give you walking directions.”
LiOwen emphasized that the local route information will not be a “stagnant schedule.”
“We’ll be constantly updating our schedule online so we have the most current information there,” she said. “Talking with other transit agencies, they get a lot of people from the social services side loving it because they can trip plan for their clients and teach them how to use it.”
Once local transit information is uploaded into the Google Transit site – which is expected by the end of the year – a person with a smart phone or a laptop looking to get from Target on Airline Highway to the Post Office on Maple Street, for example, could type in both locations and be given options for getting there by public transit.
Google Maps currently offers route information with turn-by-turn directions and anticipated travel times, but it does specify how to use public transportation to complete that journey. Google Transit changes that.
“Previously, people would have had to have had a printed schedule, pre-planned the route at home or called dispatch,” LiOwen said, noting that the new program will particularly benefit those who do not own or choose not to use a car.
The county has a three-year subscription to the service, during which time LiOwen said she and her staff will be learning to update information themselves so they can continue the program beyond the three years without an additional cost. She also plans public education programs about Google Transit once San Benito County’s information is uploaded to the system.
