Comments on: Google Transit includes all Montreal transit networks

By: Fagstein » STM offers bus schedules by text message

Fagstein » STM offers bus schedules by text message — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:19:47 +0000

[...] site which mashes up with Google Maps. There’s also, of course, Google Maps itself, which has had Montreal-area bus schedule information since October. The STM told The Gazette’s Roberto Rocha in August that it was planning something similar [...]

By: Dumitru Erhan

Dumitru Erhan — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 07:42:28 +0000

Transit for Montreal seems to have been updated with a nifty little feature:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1010+sainte-catherine+ouest,+montreal,+qc&sll=45.513847,-73.59928&sspn=0.12895,0.30899&ie=UTF8&ll=45.500203,-73.572301&spn=0.002015,0.004828&z=18

You can now see all the bus stops on a map (you just need to zoom in a bit for them to become visible). Moreover, if you click on a particular bus stop icon, it shows the upcoming departures and links to the corresponding STM website for the bus stop schedule.

Weirdly, metro stations have "bus stop IDs" too.

By: La fierté de la STM | goudaille

La fierté de la STM | goudaille — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:56:48 +0000

[...] La Presse ce matin (pas reproduit sur Cyberpresse), le directeur général de la STM se réjouit du nouveau service de Google Maps qui offre les itinéraires de transport en commun : “Nous sommes la première [...]

By: Daniel Haran

Daniel Haran — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:57:52 +0000

That press release does not appear on AMT's site (http://www.amt.qc.ca/comm/communiq.asp) as of this writing. Steve, can you find out if the data will be offered for free in the list of public feeds?
http://code.google.com/p/googletransitdatafeed/wiki/PublicFeeds

By: Jean Naimard

Jean Naimard — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 05:00:07 +0000

Press release:

Transmis par le Groupe CNW le : 27 Octobre 2008 13:29
Invitation aux médias - Google Maps - Un nouvel outil pour voyager en transport collectif dans le Montréal métropolitain

MONTREAL, le 27 oct. /CNW Telbec/ - MM. Joel Gauthier,
président-directeur général de l'Agence métropolitaine de transport (AMT), Claude Trudel, président du conseil de la Société de transport de Montréal (STM), et Mme Naomi Bilodeau, chef de produit / transport en commun, de Google, accompagnés de représentants de la Société de transport de Laval (STL), du Réseau de transport de Longueuil (RTL), des conseils intermunicipaux
de transport de la région de Montréal vous invitent au lancement d'un nouvel outil Internet pour faciliter les déplacements en transport collectif.
L'événement se déroulera le mercredi 29 octobre à 10 h dans les nouveaux locaux de Google, situés au 1253, avenue McGill College à Montréal.
A cette occasion, une démonstration de l'outil en temps réel vous sera présentée.

-30-

/Renseignements: Martine Rouette, Conseillère en communication, AMT, (514) 287-2464, poste 4057; Isabelle A. Tremblay, Affaires publiques, STM, (514) 280-4940/

By: Dumitru Erhan

Dumitru Erhan — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 18:27:57 +0000

I nominate Fagstein to be our media liaison when Google Transit for Montreal launches officially so that he can ask if the data is going to be public (or ask someone to ask this question) :)

My hunch is that with enough publicity, STM/AMT could actually do it. But it won't be instantaneous, they would probably like to iron out the bugs in their feed first.

By: Daniel Haran

Daniel Haran — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:19:52 +0000

"Even better would be if the STM just released the database for public consumption, so that people could develop their own applications to use it."

Is the STM providing free data to a US corporation, without providing the same to local citizens?

It's certainly not listed in the public feeds here:
http://code.google.com/p/googletransitdatafeed/wiki/PublicFeeds

If this is the case, who's responsible for such an inane policy?

By: I never knew » Blog Archive » Goodbye Azimut

I never knew » Blog Archive » Goodbye Azimut — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:59:58 +0000

[...] you can stop using the über crappy STM Azimut, behold Google Maps’ transit mapping. Ok, not perfect, it doesn’t offer alternate options (there’s a much much better route [...]

By: Dumitru Erhan

Dumitru Erhan — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:03:26 +0000

This is great news indeed :)

What I'm waiting for is a combination of Street View + Transit + iPhone (with auto-location). I remember reading rumours somewhere about people spotting Google cars in MTL, so Street View this can't be that far. Built-in transit directions on the iPhone are coming, apparently (http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/26/iphone-software-2-2-features-google-street-view-mass-transit-di/, although it was possible to get them on the device before that, using Safari). And auto-location already works with the iPhone Google Maps client so there is no reason why it won't work with Transit.

The G1 probably does all of these already. In any case, such a combo will definitely change the way I use public transportation (especially when travelling to other cities).

By: De Saint-Jérôme à St-Hyacinthe avec Google Transit at Eric Provost .net

De Saint-Jérôme à St-Hyacinthe avec Google Transit at Eric Provost .net — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 15:02:52 +0000

[...] depuis peu, il est maintenant possible d’obtenir les directions en transport en commun en utilisant les [...]

By: Alex

Alex — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:31:29 +0000

Google hasn't figured out rules for boarding and unboarding. For example, CIT Haut-St-Laurent cannot load or unload in Chateauguay for trips to/from Montreal. According to Google Transit, it's possible.

That being said, this seems to be a very good program and we should encourage the STM and other transit authorities to adopt and perfect this system.

Alex

By: JF Prieur

JF Prieur — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 02:02:29 +0000

Thanks for the info!

By: karine

karine — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:55:44 +0000

Wow thanks for the info. I really like google maps, so far it's has been useful for me to plan out routes that avoid highways since I have a scooter. Tous Azimut is really painful to use though I did surprise myself the other day by doing a route with rather quickly though I doubt I do it again.

By: Fagstein

Fagstein — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:54:11 +0000

The Google Transit page hasn't been updated yet.

By: Marc

Marc — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:39:45 +0000

Is it just me, but why do I just see the AMT on the Google Transit main page?

By: Fagstein

Fagstein — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:21:48 +0000

Under the origin and destination on the left, click on "show options". It allows you to choose either when you leave or when you arrive at your destination.

By: controleman

controleman — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 22:08:33 +0000

Pretty cool! But I can't find how to choose at what time I wish to travel in bus. It tells you the bus stop number so it's not that bad, but that's a down for google..

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 20:24:58 +0000

I really laughed out loud when I saw the french version of your link.

I was like, "Euh, comment ça se fait que ça va dans l'est?", and then I read the instructions. From what just-seems-to-be Galeries d'Anjou to what cannot-be-anything-else-than La Presse! Hahahaha! Well done, Fagstein!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:18:12 +0000

La capacité de faire des calculs d’itinéraires qui utilisent les services de plusieurs organismes de transport rend l’outil pas mal intéressant. Dans ce cas, les réseaux de la MRC de L’Assomption, de la STM et du CIT Sud-Ouest sont utilisés.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&saddr=L'Assomption,+qc&daddr=Valleyfield,+qc&hl=en&geocode=&mra=ls&dirflg=r&date=10%2F24%2F08&time=8:00am&ttype=dep&noexp=0&noal=0&sort=&sll=45.713371,-73.432617&sspn=0.287669,0.725098&ie=UTF8&ll=45.722001,-73.475533&spn=0.143812,0.362549&z=12&start=0

By: Fagstein

Fagstein — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:47:34 +0000

Even better would be if the STM just released the database for public consumption, so that people could develop their own applications to use it.