Search title image

Press Releases

For Immediate Release

Transit Trip Planning Now Available Online

CONTACT:

Marjorie Blackwell
510.464.7884

Jim MacRae
510.817.5714

OAKLAND, Calif., Aug. 2, 2001...The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) has initiated a new service for Bay Area transit riders -- instant, online trip planning on the Internet.

The new Web-based service, called TakeTransitsm, provides complete transit itineraries from origin to destination for six transit agencies and Bay Area ferry services. It includes instructions on transfers, schedules, fares and walking distances to the nearest transit stop and offers choices -- such as fastest route, least expensive trip or shortest walking distance -- and generates detailed maps to show transit stop locations. The service is accessed through the Bay Area transit information Web page -- www.transitinfo.org -- which is sponsored by MTC.

TakeTransitsm currently covers the operating areas of AC Transit, BART, San Francisco Muni, Central Contra Costa Transit Authority (County Connection), Union City Transit, Emery Go-Round and regional ferries: Alameda/Oakland, Golden Gate, Harbor Bay Island, Vallejo and Angel Island/Tiburon. More than 400 routes and 12,000 bus stops and transit stations are programmed into the database.

According to MTC Chair Sharon Brown, "The Bay Area is one of the first regions in the country to have an online transit trip-planning system. We believe it will be a great incentive for people to ride public transit when they can see how to make connections between systems, where stops and stations are located and obtain explicit travel directions.

"TakeTransitsm is a very useful tool," Brown added, "and like any tool, it takes practice to use to its best advantage. We recommend that people compare the different options, such as fastest trip or shortest walking distance, to make sure they are getting the best information."

San Francisco Muni, with, by far, the most riders in the region, accounts for about one-third of the stops and stations in the TakeTransitsm database. According to Muni General Manager Michael Burns, "As part of our continuing efforts to provide improved service, TakeTransitsm is one more way we'll provide better, quicker service to our current riders and help inform new riders about Muni's reach into all parts of the city."

Telephone information operators at several Bay Area transit agencies have been using the system for the past year to provide information to their customers, and MTC has been testing the Internet version with a group of 500 regular transit riders.

When MTC launched TakeTransitsm publicly in early July, the service became an instant hit, getting requests for nearly 2,000 transit itineraries per day. Since then, MTC has received numerous comments, such as: "This is great. I just tried a few of my common destinations and already found out there were faster routes than I was using..." "Thank you so much for providing this service. Normally, I'd spend about two hours on the floor in my living room with about a dozen transit maps and schedules trying to figure out the best route! ..." "I'm discovering routes I wouldn't have known to take, even though I lived in the city (San Francisco) for years..."

MTC, the transportation planning, coordinating and financing agency for the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area, plans to expand TakeTransitsm to all Bay Area transit systems within the next 18 months.

###

Previous | Contents | Next