The MT Position

Posted by Fred Jandt
Editor, Mass Transit

Shortly after I wrote last week’s blog I read an article about how Google Transit had “graduated” from Google Labs to a full-fledged (and integrated) part of Google Maps. As is typical with most online articles, the whining and kvetching about Google commenced almost immediately.

I have by now learned to tune out the posters who go on about corporations growing too large and squashing out the little man. In this case they were comparing Google Transit (evidently the new Evil Overlord in the tech market) and HopStop.com. Comments like, “Well there goes HopStop.com” are just silly.

If you have a viable product that people want, you will succeed … or get bought out by that mega-corporation, but some people see that as the true sign of success anyway.

So I decided to do a little hands-on testing of Google Transit and HopStop.com. I wanted to see how they compared and if one was any better than the other. What I found out was that neither really did everything I wanted.

I figured I would start with my trip from last week down to Navy Pier. I started at the Ogilvie Transportation Center and tried to find the route to Navy Pier. Google Transit doesn’t have info on Chicago yet, so that didn’t work. And HopStop.com didn’t recognize Ogilvie Transportation Center as a location — not a promising sign either. I know I could have found the address for both locations, but really, I wanted to type in the two landmarks and see what I could find out.

I thought, well maybe if it was New York. HopStop easily planned my route from Penn Station to the Empire State Building. Google Transit didn’t have NY in its plan, but Google Maps quickly picked up the slack and I found out that it also lists all the stations for MTA.

Now here’s the real challenge. I wanted to see what were my transit options from my house to Chicago. How did they do? Both failed. Miserably. Want to know why? Because, once you leave the area for a transit system, whether Google Transit or HopStop actually carries it or not, it’s like Columbus sailing off the map. As far as these programs are concerned, the world ends with the service area.

Why is it that we insist on treating transit and driving like oil and water? Sure, I understand that with park-and-rides and the like, agencies are embracing drivers more than ever, but for those people not living in major metropolitan areas, transit isn’t even considered — and I would argue that is in part because the option isn’t presented.

Sure, Google Maps has that nifty new “Take Public Transit” button, but if I punch in the address to find out how to get from Sheboygan, Wis., to Chicago, Ill., it’s not there. You want to really integrate Google Maps and Google Transit? How about including that button every time I put in an address and give me the option to show me where the closest stations or stops are that I can drive to and take public transit from there.

HopStop.com, Google Transit and Google Maps are nice. They don’t replace a good agency’s route planning on its Web site, but they are a step in the right direction. But until somebody creates a system that incorporates driving with walking, buses and trains, it will never be that one place people can go to find out transit options in their area.

Thanks for reading the MT Position, updated every Friday.

Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com

This entry was posted on Friday, October 12th, 2007 at 7:41 am and is filed under MT Position. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.