One trip, one tool, multiple modes - this is the goal of a trip planner being tested by TriMet that allows riders to see transit, ridesourcing, carsharing and bikesharing options.
TriMet's existing trip planner available on trimet.org combines transit with biking and walking, the beta version of its new planning tool, betaplanner.trimet.org, also brings in Uber, SHARE NOW (formerly car2go) and BIKETOWN. TriMet says the tool uses real-time locations of vehicles and bikes to plan a single trip using a mix of travel options, which includes TriMet buses and trains, Portland Streetcars, Portland Aerial Tram, Uber drivers, SHARE NOW locations and available BIKETOWN bikes, with more to come in the future.
The new planner is mobile-friendly and destinations are searchable by streets, addresses, business names and landmarks.
“By partnering with private companies, TriMet makes it easier for people to get to work, school, appointments or any place they need to go in the Portland metro area,” said TriMet’s Manager of Mobility & Location-Based Services Bibiana McHugh. “The new trip planner will help our customers make informed decisions about their travel options, including the first and last parts of their trips where a bus or train alone doesn’t provide full access.”
TriMet began work on the new trip planner in January 2017, after being awarded a $678,000 Mobility on Demand (MOD) Sandbox grant by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), which was supported by $324,000 of in-kind contributions. The FTA’s MOD Sandbox Program is designed to facilitate local projects that demonstrate innovative tools and approaches. TriMet says that the results of projects, such as the new multimodal trip planner, will provide the public transportation industry with a better understanding of how to adapt to the rapidly changing mobility marketplace.
The new trip planner uses open source technology and open data making it easy for other transit agencies to replicate. TriMet then can benefit from improvements other agencies make and incorporate them into its trip planner.
TriMet has an established history of using open source technology to drive innovation and partnerships.
"We were the first transit agency in the world to open our data to the public. We teamed up with Google in 2005 to add transit into Google Maps and create the now worldwide General Transit Feed Spec (GTFS). In 2009, we developed the first open source trip planner (OpenTripPlanner) that combined transit with walking and biking. Now, funded by a grant from the FTA, we have created a tool like none other that lets people plan multimodal trips," TriMet said in a blog posting about the new trip planner.
