AC Transit Joins the Google Transit Roster

AC Transit joins the Google Transit roster. A few weeks ago, we reported that Muni was finally integrated into the Google Maps transit planner, and we are very happy to report that AC Transit has also been added to the roster. The bus stops for Muni and AC Transit have not been permanently embedded into the maps (as Google has already done for VTA), but the schedules have been integrated into the trip planning interface. The planner now covers trips on BART, Muni, AC Transit, Caltrain, or VTA. It also plans trips that require transfers between any of those agencies; a quick test trip from San Francisco’s Richmond District to Oakland’s Pill Hill yielded the expected Muni/BART/AC Transit instructions. It has been exciting to see Muni and AC Transit come on board recently. The combined daily ridership of the five agencies now covered by the Google planner is close to 1.5 million — triple what it was before adding Muni and AC Transit. This will go a long way towards opening up this tool to more people across the Bay Area, and it will hopefully raise drivers’ awareness of the fact that many of their destinations may lie within easy reach of transit.