MBTA and federal, state and city transportation officials will formally announce the new program at noon on Thursday at South Station.
Alert Twitterers noticed this morning that when you call up a Boston map, you can now get MBTA information. For example, see this map.
This goes along with the existing system for displaying real-time traffic info on Google Maps (what's interesting is that you can also see what that traffic was like earlier in the day. So if your boss doesn't believe you were late because of a crash on Storrow Drive ...).
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Comments
FINALLY!
By anon
Wed, 07/29/2009 - 2:54pm
this is great news from the MBTA and google!
PS: boston traffic info has been available on google maps for months... maybe even a year.
Traffic not so new
By Sean O.
Wed, 07/29/2009 - 2:58pm
The real-time traffic info is not new--it's been there for a couple of years for major highways, and lesser highways/roads were added for the Boston area a couple of months ago.
Looks like Google is making an announcement tomorrow at 11am at South Station--I would imagine by then they will have the Transit layer added to the Boston area (as of this morning you can get transit directions, but there is no overlay with the subway lines on the map).
Fixed, thanks
By adamg
Wed, 07/29/2009 - 3:02pm
Although one thing that's interesting about the list of speakers at the press conference tomorrow is that it includes a representative from a group that tries to make highway commutes more manageable.
The traffic data (local
By Ryan
Wed, 07/29/2009 - 3:03pm
The traffic data (local roads) has been there for a couple months and recalling traffic doesn't really work it just says what the traffic is usually like at that day and time not what it was like earlier that day.
Having Public transit directions available is great! This feature is very useful in a city that has such random routes and how the subway can be slower a lot of the time.
Thanks Universal Hub
By Luke Bornheimer
Wed, 07/29/2009 - 3:23pm
As the founder of the "Put the MBTA on Google Transit!!!" Facebook group (http://tinyurl.com/MBTAGroup) I want to thank the Universal Hub for extending the reach of the group following The Boston Globe's article (written by Julie Masis) (http://twitter.com/MBTAonGTransit).
This is a great thing for Boston, it's commuters, and the T.
Congrats everyone!
google map
By anon
Wed, 07/29/2009 - 3:31pm
unfortunately when i tried out directions, it gave me the orange line subway instead of the silver line bus route when i asked for directions from emerson college downtown to dudley square. the silver line is much faster, since it's a straight shoot right up washington street. but it didn't give bus as an option under mass transit, just subway. so beware, there may be quicker ways to get there.
it factors in schedules as well
By anon
Wed, 07/29/2009 - 5:19pm
if option A is arriving 5 minutes before option B (according to the schedule) but A takes 2 minutes longer travel time, it'll still give you option A.
Distance, schedules, and travel time are all taken into account. I wouldn't be surprised if it tends to favor the subway anyway, since that runs on a much more predictable schedule than almost any bus.
allows walking mid-trip!
By anon
Wed, 07/29/2009 - 6:03pm
1. For the route from Emerson to Dudley, Google Transit suggests the Silver Bus.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=B...
2. The Google Transit directions are much more efficient than the T's own system for one simple reason: it allows walking mid-trip.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&g... seen here cutting a 45 min mbta.com trip to a 15 min trip Google Transit trip.
Not a big deal. The MBTA
By JJJ
Wed, 07/29/2009 - 3:40pm
Not a big deal. The MBTA already has the best website with directions in the country, which was based off google maps
Most other systems give you a PDF map and say " enjoy"
As great as the MBTA's site
By Luke Bornheimer
Wed, 07/29/2009 - 6:23pm
As great as the MBTA's site and directions gadget is, it isn't the best for mobile devices. Most of the time when I need T info or directions fast, I'm not sitting in front of a computer, hence how GREAT this is.
Valid point though.
Yes a big deal
By Elad
Thu, 07/30/2009 - 12:07pm
It is a big deal because Google maps can be used by mobile devices whereas the MBTA site works only on computers. It is much more useful to get the directions right when you need them than to have to plan it in advance in your home or office.
Nice!
By Eighthman
Wed, 07/29/2009 - 4:40pm
It works in the iPhone app too!
slightly smarter than the MBTA's system
By anon
Wed, 07/29/2009 - 5:01pm
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=p...
Feed that same route into the MBTA's system, and it would tell you to get on the 39 all the way to Copley, and go back out again on the Green Line. This one is slightly smarter (hop the 66 to avoid the woe-is-me 5 minute walk) but it'd be nice if it had the option to allow for 5-10 minute walks. Probably makes it really tough to do the route calculation, though.
What a shame that the routes are wrong!
By jikamens
Thu, 07/30/2009 - 10:06am
The data that the Trip Planner on the MBTA Web site uses, which is now the same data that they've given to Google to put into Google Maps, is wrong, has been wrong for more than six years, and sends people to catch buses that don't actually stop where they're told to wait. The MBTA has known about the problem since at least April 2003 and has done nothing to fix it. For more details, visit my blog.