Google app makes taking Sudbury Transit easier

While it's been operational for a little while now, Greater Sudbury has officially announced that transit users can take advantage of Google's trip planner app when using the bus.

From a computer, tablet or smart phone, riders can now find out which bus they have to take, where and when it will be at the nearest bus stop, and what time they can expect to arrive at their destination.

“Transit Trip Planner makes it easier to ride the bus,” said Greater Sudbury Mayor Brian Bigger, in a news release.

“With this tool, passengers don’t have to sort through timetables. In just a few easy steps, Transit Trip Planner displays walking distance to the nearest bus stop, estimated travel time, clear directions and the best of several choices to reach a destination. This is what open data can do.”

Users can access the app directly through Google or they can go to www.greatersudbury.ca/transit.

Transit director Roger Sauvé said it was a long road getting the trip planner up and running before the official launch.

"There was a lot of work done by our transit planner, to make sure that everything is very accurate,” Sauvé said. “I've been playing with the trip planner all morning, just testing it out. And it's pretty impressive and pretty robust."

And using it in combination with the city's “mybus.greatersudbury.ca” app, "you can know to the second what time the bus is going to be at your stop," he said.

Transit recently made improvements to its Sunday, holiday and late schedules, Sauvé said, part of a continual effort to get more residents riding transit.

"We reviewed every single time points between bus stops and how it relates to our schedule to make sure that the routes can be done on time and on schedule to try and improve the accuracy of the routes," he said. "We made some adjustments to the routes to ensure they could all be done on time, so the system is more reliable."

They'll continue reviewing the routes with the goal of increasing the reliability of schedules and increase the public's confidence the bus will arrive when it's supposed to.

"That's our target,” Sauvé said. “Now that we've gone through this entire process for that schedule, we're doing the same thing for the Monday-Saturday schedule. We're looking at every single time point, every time and travel between one bus stop and another, we're calculating it to ensure that everything is accurate, to try and continually improve the reliability and performance of our trips.

"Everything that we do is meant to increase ridership. The more information you can put out to the public, the more accurate the information, the less fear of not knowing a bus schedule. As soon as we can make all those things go away, the likelihood is ridership is going to increase, because it's going to be easier to travel."

The trip planner means people don't have to call for information or carry around schedules – they can access the information from any online device.

"You just have to enter your location and your destination, and the trip is laid out for you," he said.

Walking directions are provided to and from bus stops, complete with distance and estimated walking time. Passengers can select community landmarks or local businesses as departure points or destinations.

The latest version of Google Maps can be downloaded free of charge to smartphone mobile browsers at google.com/mobile/maps. More information about Greater Sudbury Transit schedules, fares and services is available at www.greatersudbury.ca/transit or by dialling 705-675-3333.