Google Transit has just expanded its trip-planning service--again. This nifty service now includes nearly 20 US cities and Japan, providing a useful tool in areas where the trip-planning services offered by public agencies leave something to be desired.
Here are some of the newest features:
- A comparison of trip time taking transit vs. driving, including an estimate of how much longer your auto trip will take during heavy traffic, connected to...
- A traffic map on the right side of the screen that helps you decide if taking transit might be a quicker, more pleasant option;
- A tally of the total cost of your trip on transit, compared to how much it would cost to drive. (Google estimates the cost of driving using the standard IRS deduction of 48 cents a mile, multiplied by the length of your trip--an imperfect system that we would love to see expanded to include gas prices, vehicle model, and tolls).
A few glitches still remain, of course: during a quick search for my route from work to home, Google failed to notice a major bus route that stops four blocks from home, suggesting instead that I take an 11-minute hike from a stop several blocks down the road. But the service is faster and more informative than the buggy tool offered by my local transit agency, and probably yours as well.
Several similar, though less functional, tools exist to calculate your walking, running, and cycling distance, like Geodistance and Jogrun. Created as tools to enable runners to figure out how long their routes are and how long they'll take to run, bike, or walk at a given pace, these tools are also useful for cyclists, pedestrians, and others who want to know how far away their destination is -- these groups typically aren't well-served by traditional mapping software.
This is all great for local travels and commuting, but what if you want to bicycle long-distance? the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials, in coordination with the Adventure Cycling Association, has developed a draft of a nationwide system of bike corridors, which would connect state and national bike routes and trails across the United States. (Via Green Car Congress.) The goal is to give cyclists a one-stop tool to travel by accessible road or bike path anywhere in the US. The European Cycling Federation is attempting to develop a similar system in Europe, which would connect the entire European continent with twelve bike routes totaling more than 65,000 kilometers.
