RIPTA IMPLEMENTS GOOGLE TRANSIT TO MAKE BUS & TROLLEY TRIP PLANNING EASY & CONVENIENT
New Google trip planner on www.ripta.com provides customized transit routing for Rhode Islanders
April 23, 2008 - Providence, Rhode Island... The Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) announced today that they have worked with Google, the international search engine, to provide RIPTA riders with a brand new tool for planning their bus and trolley trips. RIPTA riders can access the new Google Transit trip planner at www.ripta.com and use it to find the quickest, most convenient route to reach their destination.
“RIPTA is very happy to make this service available to its customers, “ said RIPTA General Manager Alfred J. Moscola. “ It is incredibly easy to use, gives you all the information you need, and is perfect for the person who hasn’t used RIPTA’s bus system before. It’s a great incentive to use transit in Rhode Island, because it figures out the whole trip for you. It does all the work. With this tool, Google is providing a tremendous public service, ” he said.
To use the new trip planner, which went live today on RIPTA’s website and at www.google.com/transit, RIPTA customers simply enter their starting address and destination. The electronic trip planner, which is integrated with Google Maps locates the nearest bus stop near the passenger, provides written step by step directions and detailed mapping for the transit rider’s specific trip. It also provides the rider with travel times, connections and any pertinent transfer information.
If requested, the Google trip planner also plans the rider’s return trip. The new trip planner offers the user travel options, including the quickest way to travel to his or her destination and indicates how long the trip will take.
“This is a great enhancement of the RIPTA website. Our customers are going to be happily surprised by this new convenience and so are people who are thinking of using RIPTA for the first time,” said Moscola.
RIPTA provided the bus route and bus stop data to Google and Google is providing the service at no cost to RIPTA.
For more information on other RIPTA services, passengers can call 781-9400.
Google, Google Transit, and Google Maps are trademarks of Google Inc.
“RIPTA is very happy to make this service available to its customers, “ said RIPTA General Manager Alfred J. Moscola. “ It is incredibly easy to use, gives you all the information you need, and is perfect for the person who hasn’t used RIPTA’s bus system before. It’s a great incentive to use transit in Rhode Island, because it figures out the whole trip for you. It does all the work. With this tool, Google is providing a tremendous public service, ” he said.
To use the new trip planner, which went live today on RIPTA’s website and at www.google.com/transit, RIPTA customers simply enter their starting address and destination. The electronic trip planner, which is integrated with Google Maps locates the nearest bus stop near the passenger, provides written step by step directions and detailed mapping for the transit rider’s specific trip. It also provides the rider with travel times, connections and any pertinent transfer information.
If requested, the Google trip planner also plans the rider’s return trip. The new trip planner offers the user travel options, including the quickest way to travel to his or her destination and indicates how long the trip will take.
“This is a great enhancement of the RIPTA website. Our customers are going to be happily surprised by this new convenience and so are people who are thinking of using RIPTA for the first time,” said Moscola.
RIPTA provided the bus route and bus stop data to Google and Google is providing the service at no cost to RIPTA.
For more information on other RIPTA services, passengers can call 781-9400.
Google, Google Transit, and Google Maps are trademarks of Google Inc.