TTC teams up with Google Maps
Posted October 12, 2010 6:24 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
TORONTO, Ont – Google Maps can now help you find your way around Toronto’s transit system.
It only takes seconds to map out TTC directions on Google, offering riders the fastest transit route to their destination and a list of arrival times.
Mayor David Miller says its catching up to a tech-savvy generation.
“We’re making public transit easier, more convenient and friendlier.”
However, during a demonstration at Google’s Canadian office, the new system took a passenger who intended to travel to Yonge and Dundas, to College station.
Officials with the search engine says it simply needs a little fine tuning.
“Just like driving directions in Google Maps, when it was first released it wasn’t all that accurate, and then through the improvement process it gets more and more optimized.”
TTC chair Adam Giambrone says it took a while for the system to map out the entire transit route.
“We’re not the first, I think New York launched just over a year ago, but we’re certainly in that second traunch of large transit systems coming onto Google.”
Streetcar users will also be able to access real time information on when the next car will arrive, which Miller says will be incredibly convenient for transit users.
“The most frustrating thing for TTC riders is when four buses come in a row and then one doesn’t come for 28 minutes. The real time data will be incredibly important.”
