Google Maps and Public Transportation in Houston

[Jax]

What do you guys think of Google's implementation of public transportation planning in Houston?

For a while now you have been able to go to maps.google.com, look up directions, and then change "driving" to "public transportation" to access Metro's transit schedules and plan a trip. It seems like a great idea, and it has the potential to overcome the shortcomings of Metro's own trip planner (which I believe they want to phase out now that they can use Google Maps to do the same thing).

I tried this out today, and I am kind of disappointed in the bus trip route that Google is giving me. For example, I looked up directions from my apartment in the Museum District to UH. Google maps tells me to walk half a mile, take a bus, get off in the middle of the 3rd ward, wait 15 minutes, then get on another bus.

I know that a better way to get there is to walk 0.1 miles to the Metro Rail, ride to Ensemble/HCC, and take the 42 bus. I like this better because the Metro Rail is more comfortable and arrives more frequently than the bus, and when I get off of the bus at Ensemble HCC I feel safer waiting near the Metro Rail station for my connection than I do in the middle of the 3rd ward. I looked that up manually and it seems to be about the same time.

So I guess my main complaint is that when Google calculates your route, it doesn't give enough alternate options as it should. I think Metro's trip planner gave me 5 or 6 alternate routes last time I used it (it was also damn slow to load).

Has anybody here used the Google public transportation service, and if so what are your thoughts on it?

[kylejack]

Google gives several results for most direction requests.

[jfre81]

It's new, I'm sure some bugs will get worked out.

I have to walk a pretty good distance just to get on the 14 bus going into town, so what's another half-mile to me? lol

[totheskies]

What do you guys think of Google's implementation of public transportation planning in Houston?

For a while now you have been able to go to maps.google.com, look up directions, and then change "driving" to "public transportation" to access Metro's transit schedules and plan a trip. It seems like a great idea, and it has the potential to overcome the shortcomings of Metro's own trip planner (which I believe they want to phase out now that they can use Google Maps to do the same thing).

I tried this out today, and I am kind of disappointed in the bus trip route that Google is giving me. For example, I looked up directions from my apartment in the Museum District to UH. Google maps tells me to walk half a mile, take a bus, get off in the middle of the 3rd ward, wait 15 minutes, then get on another bus.

I know that a better way to get there is to walk 0.1 miles to the Metro Rail, ride to Ensemble/HCC, and take the 42 bus. I like this better because the Metro Rail is more comfortable and arrives more frequently than the bus, and when I get off of the bus at Ensemble HCC I feel safer waiting near the Metro Rail station for my connection than I do in the middle of the 3rd ward. I looked that up manually and it seems to be about the same time.

So I guess my main complaint is that when Google calculates your route, it doesn't give enough alternate options as it should. I think Metro's trip planner gave me 5 or 6 alternate routes last time I used it (it was also damn slow to load).

Has anybody here used the Google public transportation service, and if so what are your thoughts on it?

For METRO's trip planner, the rail line is generally not factored in (DUMB!!!) But you've got lots of ways to get to UH from the Museum District, most of which are quite fast....

From the Ensemble/HCC, you can take the 42 (like you said)

From the Downtown Transit Center, you can take the 30 Cullen or 52 Scott. Slightly longer ride on the train, but these busses run at a higher frequency than the 42 (and also more times of the day or night). When I lived in Northshore, I used to take this connection all the time. From the time you step on the train to the time the bus lets you out at UofH, it's normally 30 mins or less.

From the TMC transit Center, you can take the 68 eastbound.