Trip Planner Expanded to Include Eight More Systems

News Articles
04/24/2002

The online transit trip-planner operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and available on AC Transit’s Web site, now includes eight more transit systems.

The eight systems are Altamont Commuter Express (ACE), Benicia Transit, Caltrain, Dumbarton Express, Tri Delta Transit, Vallejo Transit, WestCAT and WHEELS (operated by the Livermore/Amador Valley Transit Authority).

The original transit operators whose routes and schedules have been available since MTC launched the trip planner last July are AC Transit, BART, County Connection (Central Contra Costa TransitAuthority), Emery-Go-Round, San Francisco Muni and Union City Transit, and the Alameda-Oakland, Golden Gate Transit, Alameda Harbor Bay and Vallejo ferry services.

To use the trip planner, which is hosted by MTC’s Bay Area Transit Information Web Page at www.transitinfo.org, transit riders type the address, intersection or landmark they are departing from and their destination. The system then tells them which routes to take, when and where to board, and where to transfer.

Walking maps showing how to get to, from, and between transit stops, are now interactive. This allows the user to zoom in and out and pan from one spot to another, taking in newly added features such as parks, schools, hospitals and other landmarks. Now in color, maps also can be printed to take along on the transit trip.

Nearly 700,000 personalized transit itineraries have been produced in the nine months since the service has been available. Travelers can now plan transit trips involving 18 interlocking local bus, train and ferry operators and approximately 440 routes and 11,500 bus stops and transit stations.

The trip planner also is being used by the telephone information centers operated by the transit agencies themselves, making the service available to members of the public who don’t have access to the Web.

Golden Gate Transit and SamTrans routes and schedules are expected to be added to the online transit trip-planning service in the next six weeks or so, followed by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), Vacaville City Coach and Fairfield/Suisun Transitby midsummer, and Sonoma and Napa county transit operators in the fall.