The Bay Area Transportation Authority’s (BATA) has started the new year with the launch of a new online Trip Planner tool that allows riders to easily find routes, bus schedules and fare costs to help people to travel anywhere on BATA’s fixed route City and Village Loop systems.
BATA’s Trip Planner tool uses the Google Transit feature built into Google Maps. To use this feature riders visit www.bata.net, www.google.com/maps or use the Google Maps app on their smart phone to see what BATA transportation options are available.
Riders using the Trip Planner tool on BATA's website simply enter their start and ending destinations and click “Plan Your Trip.” They are then automatically taken to Google Maps and shown the best BATA routes and times available. If riders go to google.com/maps directly or use the Google Maps app they can type in their starting point and destination using the “Directions” feature and click the “Transit” train icon at the top of the screen and the nearest BATA transportation option will be displayed.
Google Transit features include:
- Color coded route options
- Timing until the next scheduled bus arrives
- Total travel time
- Fare cost
“Having BATA route information on Google Maps and through our online Trip Planner tool is a technology that our riders have been requesting and we’re so excited to make this feature available to our customers,” said BATA Executive Director Kelly Dunham. “This is the first of many new rider-friendly technologies we hope to launch in the next couple of years.”
Other web features include the “Schedule Explorer” link that lets riders see future bus schedule options in case the next bus arrival time doesn’t work for their travel plans. The “Details” link shows all the route stops in between a rider’s starting point and final destination and links back to BATA's website for more information. Riders can also send BATA’s route directions and timing to their mobile device via text message or e-mail.
