As both public and private agencies have rushed to jump onto the online and social networking bandwagon in the past year, many have long awaited the debut of Google Transit, the internet powerhouse’s latest attempt at helping you find your way. Google Transit helps you plan your route using an interactive public bus schedule that – with a little walking – can get you anywhere. 

Cities across America are already signed up and operating on the service, but Southern California has been running a bit behind schedule.  Here, Long Beach Transit (LBT) is preparing their scheduling system so that it can be included by the end of 2009 or early 2010. 

Long Beach Transit users can currently use Trip Planner, which is offered on LBT’s website and helps riders find the right buses and schedules for their journeys using local landmarks to “ballpark” the route. But Google Transit will take the effort one step further and allow riders to simply type in their beginning and ending addresses – the software does the rest, providing a list of the correct buses and times as well as an interactive map.

Google Transit currently features Long Beach routes, but LBT spokesperson Marcelle Epley says that those are strictly in the testing phase and a final version will not be ready for several months.  Even when experimenting with the software, it’s clear that Long Beach isn’t fully setup yet (one imaginary trip I planned displayed a route through the CSULB campus that would only be possible by helicopter).

Part of the problem is that LBT is currently undergoing a system upgrade that includes updating new bus schedules and integrating an interactive voice response system that will allow riders to call and receive information from specific bus stops – like whether or not a particular bus is running early or late. Once LBT is caught up logistically, they'll be able to focus on integrating with G-Trans.

What do you think? Once fully operational, will Google Transit encourage the use of public transportation in Long Beach? Or introduce new riders to the system? Many people I know that don’t use transit say it’s because they’re not familiar with the routes and fear getting lost. Even still, LBT experienced a major increase in ridership last year due to high gas prices.

But the integration of LBT routes into the Google Transit system will at least provide a little extra help to those who ride regularly, and may even introduce a new generation of riders.

Photo by Ricklyn Hukriede

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