Google Transit Comes to Australia
It seems like a small thing to bring the CEO of Google out for, but nonetheless Google chief Eric Schmidt was on hand today to announce that Google Transit was coming to an Australian city near you. It’s starting with Perth, with plans to add other Australian cities in the future.
Transit is a feature of Google Maps that helps you to plan a trip using public transport options. You enter your start address, end address and departure or arrival time, and Google will tell you how to make it happen with public transport. Of course, Google isn’t the only company offering such a service. For example, Sydney’s CityRail and State Transit Authority has a trip planner that can be found here. Melbourne has something similar here.
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Comments
Thats friggin’ unbelievable. Not that they are coming to Aus but that they are starting in Perth. We only usually get stuff either just before or after Adelaide which is like half a century after the east coast (but half a century before Tasmania)
Have you guys looked at hopstop.com in the U.S. Very similar concept but I dont think they’ll be doing Australia anytime soon. They are only in the U.S.
I guess that’s because Transperth infrastructure is more compatible with that of Google Transit. See http://www.transperth.wa.gov.au
In south east Queensland we have http://jp.translink.com.au/
Perth’s bus site already had a trip planner ages ago. Welcome to 2003 guys. One would think Google were a little more ahead of the times.
They’ll have to gey the Newcastle station names correct first!
Perth? What the hell?
Go Perth!
Not that we need it though…
While perth does have journeyplanner, it does sort of suck, I’m sure integration with Google will make the whole process much more professional.
-r
Google Transit is not just a journey planner, it is a journey planner with maps, something that Translink in Brisbane is missing is maps. How are you meant to get a bus you’ve never got before in an unfamiliar part of town when you don’t know where the stops are!?
David,
Totally agree. Translink’s Journey Planner in Brisbane is not particularly useful if you don’t know where the stops are. The descriptors for the bus stops don’t often correlate with where you think they should be.
Having maps would be perfect. I’ve emailed BCC and they assure me they have no plans to integrate with Google Maps in the near future, despite it being free…
I suspect their database is such a mess it is just not possible…