County Express riders can now plan their route and find schedule information for fixed-route bus service and inter-county transportation services using a Google Transit trip planner.
By accessing the website www.SanBenitoCountyExpress.org, riders can use Google Transit enter the start and end of their trip and the time they plan to travel. The software will help them find transit routes and link County Express trips to other public services in Santa Clara, Monterey, Santa Cruz and other counties throughout California.
Once the information is entered into the trip planner, customers will be directed to a Google Maps website with three options – each with directions to and from the nearest bus stop, route information, total trip time and other options.
“This exciting new tool was made possible through a Caltrans Transportation Planning Grant Program to help small, rural transit agencies provide convenient and accessible forms of public transit schedule information,” said Betty LiOwen, a transportation planner with the San Benito County Council of Governments. “Having public transit schedules more readily available to casual users, non-locals, social service agencies and regular transit riders improves overall quality of services and encourages greater access and mobility to the public.”
The county has a three-year subscription to the service – available in English and Spanish – for which the Local Transportation Authority is paying nearly $37,000 to a consultant to get local routes coded into the system.
For more information about Google Transit, contact LiOwen at 637-7665 or email her at
be***@sa**********.org
. Information is also available online at www.SanBenitoCountyExpress.org/google_transit.html.
