It’s now a little bit easier to take a trip on the bus.
CCTA bus schedule info is now available on Google Transit. That means when you’re looking for directions on Google Maps between places serviced by these bus systems, Google shows you a public transit option alongside the drive, walk and bike options.
Try it out! Enter your current address and where you want to go — Google will tell you where and when to pick up the bus, which route (or routes, in the case of transfers) to take, and what time you’re expected to arrive at your location. It’s important to note that this isn’t realtime tracking data, so Google won’t tell you where exactly your bus is along its route or if it will be late. But it does make it much easier to figure out how to take the bus efficiently, especially if you’re just a casual bus rider. And it works on smartphone versions of Google Maps, too.
It’s not just useful in Burlington, either. Live in, say, Waterbury? Google will give you driving or walking directions to the nearest park-and-ride and tell you when to expect a LINK bus there. And if you’re traveling from Burlington to Middlebury, Google’s directions transition from the CCTA to Addison County’s ACTR buses, which are also on Google Transit. Easy-peasy!
Getting the CCTA on Google has been a long process dating back a few years, according to Ross Nizlek, IT and scheduling specialist for the CCTA. To integrate with Google Maps, Google needs the schedule data in a very specific format, Nizlek explains. The process includes gathering GPS coordinates for every last stop and updating how the agency stores its route data.
“What I did over a period of months was I took the bus map and guide, took Excel and I handcoded each trip,” Nizlek says. The result was a bundle of data that Nizlek submitted to Google back in December. A few months after that, Google and the CCTA went back and forth hashing out the minutaie, down to confirming each stop’s name and each route’s designated color. Now, it’s finally ready.
If you live outside of Chittenden or Addison counties, fear not. The Agency of Transportation is spearheading an effort to get Vermont’s smaller, rural transit agencies integrated with Google Maps, according to Ross MacDonald, the state’s public transit coordinator.
“We have a lot of small providers with just a few employees,” MacDonald says. “The state will participate by bringing that technology experience and knowledge to get the state up and running [on Google Transit].” The AOT will also help communicate with Google to get schedule and route changes updated when they occur, MacDonald says. (And don’t forget about Go Vermont’s programs to help commuters save money and be a little greener.)
If you’re hoping for, say, a smartphone app with live CCTA bus tracking, you’ll have to wait a little longer. “It is something we’re very excited about doing, but it is a couple years out,” Nizlek says. “Right now we’re consumed with the downtown transit center.” Once those plans are solidified, Nizlek says to expect more progress on realtime bus info.
In the meantime, the CCTA is pressing on with more tech improvements. A few more kinks still need to be worked out, including the fact that some of the route lines appear to fly through the sky rather than follow the roads. And local developers, your turn to play is coming up: Nizlek says that the agency expects to open up its schedule data on its website later this year.
This article appears in May 30 – Jun 5, 2012.
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Well it would be great if it actually worked… public transit options were still noted as “Not available for this location” on Google Maps when I checked a few minutes ago. I tried getting directions from one stop on the UMall/Williston route (Cherry St. in Burlington) to another (Commerce St. in Williston) and Google is not displaying any public transit options like the screen shot above appears to show. Let me know when it’s actually live.
Chris, not sure where the hang-up is — I just tried the exact route you described and the public transit option worked fine…?
Glad CCTA is getting with the times. One problem I’ve always had riding CCTA is the lack in connecting communities. According to their website; “CCTA serves the communities of Burlington, Essex, South Burlington, Shelburne,
Williston, Winooski, Milton, and a portion of Colchester.” However, that seems to only be the case if you want to go into (and occasionally out of) Burlington. If you want to go from Essex/Essex Junction to Williston, hope you only want to travel between 4:45 and 5:45. Need to get from Williston to Winooski – only available from 4-5:30 (enjoy the hour or longer ride, the route suggests some light walking too) and Colchester to Shelburne… Does a regular bus even go into Colchester anymore or just by it on I-89?
The portion of Colchester that CCTA serves is Fort Ethan Allen. CCTA does not have more extensive service there because Colchester refuses to pay for it. If Colchester was interested in funding public transit to their community, I imagine CCTA would be very interested.
The same can be said for outlying communities that are existing members of CCTA. If Winooski and South Burlington wanted to improve connections and were willing to allocate the funding, their representatives on the CCTA board could always communicate that message. To my knowledge, CCTA has worked with every entity that has come forward desiring expanded service, provided funding can be secured. As with any transit system, fare revenue contributes the minority share of the operating costs, so service is dependent upon a community’s desire to fund it.
Regarding the Essex issue that you mentioned, there is service between Essex Junction and Williston all day. Any of the 1E buses takes you over there. There’s service from 7 AM until 7:10 PM at night, M-F, with a similar but slightly reduced span of service on Saturdays. I think an even larger window of connections is available from Winooski, either connecting at Amtrak or at Cherry St.
Judging by the time you made the post, I think you may have gotten a bit confused by just typing in the destinations into Google Transit. Google Transit, by default, gives you the next three trips available from the time you submit your request. There is a depart at/arrive by drop down that will allow you to choose the time and date of your departure, so you can get the results for the time you are trying to plan for.
(FYI – I am posting this solely as an individual and am not speaking for or representing my employer’s views in any way).