Because L.A.’s biggest transit agency’s dragging its feet, Google maps makes public transit look way worse than it actually is. Case in point: One dude tried to map out a bus route from L.A. to Inglewood — and Gmaps said it’d take 10+ hours and cost $10.50.
Why? Because Metro hasn’t make its info available to Google, Gmaps only gives transit options using the info from small agencies that HAVE made its info available. Thus, the guy trying to get to Inglewood was told he’d have to take a roundabout route — including a detour into Anaheim.
If you’re wondering why Metro won’t get on Google Maps already, it’s because Metro thinks might be able to make ad revenue by forcing people to use Metro’s own clunky TripPlanner. The logic is that Metro’s TripPlanner, being a monopoly of Metro schedule info, gets a lot of hits — and Metro could start selling ads on those pages. Putting Metro’s info on Gmaps would take away that monopoly, and with it, the potential for ad revenue.
While I’m all for getting our public transit agencies more money, I think this is a really dumb move on Metro’s part. Rather than trying to make a few bucks by forcing people to use an inferior system, isn’t better to focus on increasing ridership — so that we can get more money for Metro from the state and federal government? And since our tax dollars are used to help fund Metro, shouldn’t the info be made easily available for our use?
Making public transit directions as easy to access as driving directions on Gmaps would make it so much easier to attract transit newbies to Metro’s services. The NY Times’ City Room blog, for example, reports that since NYC linked up with Gmaps, “Users do not need to search specifically for transit information. Instead, they are shown transit routes, stations and stops even if are merely searching for, say, a bagel store.” For more deets on how Google Transit works, watch this short video:
Why can’t we make that happen in L.A.? If Metro’s TripPlanner remains a monopoly for its transit info, then Angelenos won’t serendipitously discover that taking public transit’s a viable option. After all, only the people already interested in taking public transit go to Metro’s TripPlanner site.
Yet today, would-be public transit takers in L.A. are still forced to make do with Metro’s own clunky trip planner, or scared off of trying public transit at all by trying to get directions on Gmaps.
Relatedly: In LAist, Lindsay William-Ross writes that Metro’s Missing Out By Not Meshing With Google Maps.
Image via Franklin Avenue
Update, 6/10/09: L.A. close to getting Google Transit
Is there anything we can do about it?
Google transit for metro would be beneficial for the consumer (much easier to take the bus somewhere) and would increase ridership as well.
Frustrating that they just don’t seem to get it.
Comment by Chris — January 20, 2009 @ 4:23 pm
Metro does suck, and not just for the reason you stated. It seems now that every time I use the trip planner search function, nothing comes up for me. When I first decided I wanted to visit Los Angeles Flying Pigeon, I entered in my address and the bike shop’s address and was told there was no bus route information available for the trip that I was planning. I had to open up google maps and explore the different buses and rail lines on metro.com to figure out how I was going to get from the San Fernando Valley to Highland Park. I found a great route (Orange Line –> Red Line –> Gold Line) but the time that it took looking up different lines and mapping out everything… oy vey…
yeah metro.net sucks. I do believe the last time the trip planner turned up something for me was about a year ago. Even then, if I took as many buses as they suggested, I would have spent more time on the bus, waiting for the bus, and paying for the bus. When in reality, all I had to take was ONE BUS (to hollywood).
Comment by Righteous Metal Broad — January 20, 2009 @ 5:29 pm
Metro does not have a monopoly on scheduling info. For one thing, schedule data are copyright-proof. I also used to put up Metro and other schedules for SoCal transit agencies, and never had trouble from it or anyone else.
Unfortunately, only Metro can enter its data into Google Transit. If you look at the API specs, you’ll see that it requires very involved coding for every stop in the system. Google also requires access to the agency’s stop and schedule database to automatically upload info.
It also requires an agreement between the agency and Google.
Sadly, this doesn’t offer an opportunity to open-source the project.
And with Google Transit, there’s no point in reviving an open-source schedule effort.
By the way, Metro is looking like a jackass for holding out on Google Transit. If Metro were to research what exactly it would gain through Internet ads, it would realize the revenue would be such a pittance that it might not even be enough to cover the salary of an account executive. Ad revenues, especially online, are not particularly lucrative.
Comment by Wad — January 20, 2009 @ 10:13 pm
Chris — You can email Metro — customerrelations@metro.net — or try contacing Metro Board Members. Contacting Metro’s Citizens Advisory Council might also be helpful –
Another idea would be to get involved with and try to get a pro-public transit group — SoCaTa or The Transit Coalition, for ex — to make this a priority in their agenda –
Anyone else have ideas on how best to push this issue with the Metro?
Wad — I should’ve more accurately said Metro has a monopoly on web trip planning apps with metro schedule info :)
Comment by Siel — January 21, 2009 @ 10:56 am
I completely agree that Metro needs to get on board with Google Transit or at least take the steps to make trip planning easier to use and more efficient than it is now.
Maybe getting an online petition or group together to get the ball rolling would help? Not sure the best way to approach the problem, but something needs to be done.
Comment by Dave — January 21, 2009 @ 1:38 pm
I’ll try to get in touch with Metro tomorrow to see if there’s still internal dialogue going on about this in the agency (and why things’re taking so long) –
Comment by Siel — January 21, 2009 @ 6:27 pm
Google maps with GPS related info as to where the buses / trains are on the transit lines in real time would be even better.
Comment by Mike — January 22, 2009 @ 4:11 pm