LACMTA delaying implementation

Chris Luth

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Mar 6, 2009, 1:55:27 AM3/6/09

to Google Transit Trip Planner

Semi-disappointing news. I just got a response from LACMTA Director of
Public Relations Gail Harvey after I resent the email I sent last
year:

"Chris … Again, thank you for your inquiry. Metro is currently in the
process of upgrading its own Trip Planner and may consider
participation in Google Transit after that project is complete."

I know they were working on a GTFS feed some time ago, so hopefully
they do continue that work.

Just thought I'd share this with the group.

Chris

Steve Haflich

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Mar 6, 2009, 3:07:24 AM3/6/09

to google...@googlegroups.com

Chris Luth <newsl...@danubealaska.net> wrote:

Semi-disappointing news. ...
"Chris, thank you for your inquiry. Metro is currently in the

process of upgrading its own Trip Planner and may consider
participation in Google Transit after that project is complete."

I think this will be a frequent syndrome, that transit agencies feel
that rolling their own solution is more important than cooperating on
general solutions. (Job security?) While it is dangerous for a single
implementation to gain a monopoly on any part of the computing
technology (e.g. Windows), transit planning and mapping is sufficiently
difficult that there shouldn't be hundreds of independent solutions.

A couple weeks ago I was trying to plan and print a driving route for my
wife to a certain station on the San Francisco BART, using Google
Transit. That station (MacArthur) was one of several that is located
between the lanes of a state highway (hwy 24). In the "did you mean?"
dialog there were two entries for this station. I chose one, and got a
tangled driving route that eventually terminated in that limited-access
state highway, nowhere near any exit.

I suppose if I had chosen the other, Google would have properly devised
a route that ended in the parking lot for that station, accessible only
through the city streets.

Anyway, I brought this incorrect and potentially dangerous result to the
attention of BART, and after a couple days received a reply that I can
summarize as two points: "We are not responsible for what other agencies
do with the data we give them." "Our trip planner gets it right!"

I decided not to respond to this manifest nonsense. But I expect that
there will be continued tension between the DP staffs of many individual
transit providers and global transit tools like Google. It would be a
bad thing, I suppose, if a single private entity like Google took over
all transit planning for the entire world, but it would be worse if
there were hundreds or thousands of disconnected independent planners of
varying competence and sophistication.

Jarrod DellaChiesa

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Mar 6, 2009, 3:23:23 AM3/6/09

to google...@googlegroups.com

Hi Chris,

I received the exact same response to my inquiry just this Monday:

---- Forwarded Message ----

Dear Mr. DellaChiesa,

Metro is currently in the process of upgrading its own Trip Planner and may consider participation in Google Transit after that project is complete.

Thank you for your correspondence.

Gail M. Harvey

Director, Customer Relations

213.922.7030

From: Jarrod DellaChiesaSent: Monday, March 02, 2009 10:37 PM
To: Customer Relations
Subject: Google Transit

Hi,

The Coast Starlight Communities Network is a coalition of various interests with the goal of protecting and improving rail service between California, Oregon and Washington.

I am writing to encourage you to submit your agency's route information to GoogleTransit (http://maps.google.com/help/maps/transit/partners/). It is a great (and free) tool for promoting transportation in our communities.