Public Transit Routes on Google Maps not showing JTA?

[Lunican]

Letter sent to the mayor and city council from an MJ reader...

March 13th 2013

To whom it may concern,
I'm writing you because an issue I once studied from afar has begun to effect my life personally, offering new insight. I'm referring to the administrative disaster that is the Jacksonville Transportation Authority. It's no news that Jacksonville is a sprawling city which complicates fixed transit lines and makes a personal vehicles a virtual must. There are those who still choose to use public transit on a regular basis. I'm sure over time these people have come to understand the system, but for a newcomer it is quite a feat. My concern is the overall lack in user-friendliness, primarily in the realm of computer interface and trip planning. I've contacted JTA about this issue. It claims it is working toward making it's data available to Google to be used in its mapping software. It has been some time and I continue to get the same response. I'm either being fed a line or JTA is dragging its feet. Regardless, this is an important topic that needs to be addressed. Low hanging fruit issues like this should quickly be resolved, especially when the impact is potentially huge for current and perspective riders.

Google Maps is a powerful tool used by millions of people daily. Together with Google Earth, Google Street View, and Google Transit, this tool is amplified to create a versatile and thorough experience for its users. In particular, Google Transit offers patrons a standardized interface to quickly find the best fixed routes to get from point “A” to point “B”. It's as easy as getting driving directions to a set location, except it uses existing transit lines. This option is available to to many other cities, large and small. Charlotte, Atlanta, Orlando, Gainesville, Miami, Tampa, Charleston, and Savannah, are just a few cities that use the program. These are contemporaries of Jacksonville, some would even considered a few of these places less advanced. Why is it than that Jacksonville has fallen so far behind on something so ubiquitous to other cities? On top of this, it's even free to JTA! The data that is already available on current transit lines is the same data that would be used to create Googlable routes. JTA just has to format the data or make it available for third party development.

JTA would benefit greatly from outsourcing trip planning. It is not in the business of creating user-friendly accessible data, Google is. Why not let each party do what they do best. Currently, the only effective means of checking routes is by viewing the bus line map, using the in-house trip planner, or calling a JTA associate, all of which have their own problems. The bus line map is a confusing cobweb of routes. For a new user it's hard to make heads or tails of where one route starts and another ends. The trip planner on JTA's website can be effective if used properly. The hard part is that it has trouble identifying local locations. Locations in other cities commonly show up even when looking for an address as simple as 1600 Main Street. When calling an associate I assume they us the same system. I'm sure they are more acquainted with the program, but that did not stop them from sticking me on the wrong bus.

I apologize if his letter appears to be a rant on my bad experience was on a JTA bus, that was not my intention. I'm a concerned citizen who sees a problem and knows it can be fixed if the right people focused their attention on it. This is a systemic problem with the cities transportation department that effects many of the most vulnerable people in our community. Missing a bus could mean loosing a job. The flip side to this is that the transit system could become a catalyst for stronger growth in the urban core. If information on routes are easily accessible more people will consider taking public transit. A stronger transit system will attract the type of growth the mayor and other city officials have expressed interest in encouraging. We don't need another app to address this problem, one already exist. I ask all interested parties to do what they can to get this issue resolved. The fruit is ripe, pick it.
Sincerely,

[Josh]

It's pathetic it has been this long and still no progress has been made. Has the local media ever tried picking up this story and getting to the bottom of it? I'm sure a public records request would yield some juicy info.

[fsujax]

maybe now with completely new leadership Google Transit can finally be achieved.

[Cheshire Cat]

maybe now with completely new leadership Google Transit can finally be achieved.

True FSU!  It would not hurt one bit to make sure more folks than just the writer of the above letter see this as a problem make sure JTA leadership is listening and upgrading.

[peestandingup]

It's pathetic it has been this long and still no progress has been made. Has the local media ever tried picking up this story and getting to the bottom of it? I'm sure a public records request would yield some juicy info.

Its done on purpose to make the service less usable, so only poor people (those that have to) are the only ones riding. Basically to stigmatize public transit in the public eye, making it seem overall less desirable & more of a "hand out". That way they can keep the road monopolies going & outward development that this town's leaders obviously have a huge boner for.

Same reason why its an hour wait for most buses, no shelters at bus stops, a monorail system that was so expensive per mile it could never be extended, etc. Don't think for a minute there's not back room deals going on to keep these things as crappy as possible.

[simms3]

I use Google Maps for timing busses and even choosing busses, though my bus system also has an app that is more accurate.  Also, 500,000 people use the busses in my system every day (just Muni Bus, not ATC or other county bus systems) vs I think 19,000 for JTA's busses?  Same city population (SF vs Jax).

The south is notorious for captured rider bus systems.  Even in Atlanta I had a hard time riding the busses simply due to the filth and the smell and the crime and sketchiness (~250,000 daily riders on MARTA busses).  That's with nice, covered stations, but scaled back routes and headways and unreliable drivers and constant wheelchair/walker traffic.

Honestly, no matter what JTA does to improve the bus system, it's a southern bus system.  It will always be exclusively for poor people.  The way to get choice middle/upper class transit riders in the south is to build light rail or streetcars through infill yuppie neighborhoods.

That goes without saying, JTA should do MUCH MORE to serve the underserved by providing nice covered stations and better routes and better signage.

[Ocklawaha]

It's pathetic it has been this long and still no progress has been made. Has the local media ever tried picking up this story and getting to the bottom of it? I'm sure a public records request would yield some juicy info.

Basically to stigmatize public transit in the public eye, making it seem overall less desirable & more of a "hand out". That way they can keep the road monopolies going & outward development that this town's leaders obviously have a huge boner for.

Same reason why its an hour wait for most buses, no shelters at bus stops, a monorail system that was so expensive per mile it could never be extended, etc. Don't think for a minute there's not back room deals going on to keep these things as crappy as possible.

Geeze Pee, why don't you tell us how you REALLY feel? LOL!   

I actually like the 'NEXT BUS' site better, y'all check it out at: http://www.nextbus.com/homepage/
They do RAIL too:  http://www.nextbus.com/predictor/stopSelector.jsp?a=portland-sc

[Scrub Palmetto]

Here's a list of the top 80 U.S. metro areas with NO transit representation on Google Maps and their rank by 2012 population.

40. Jacksonville
42. Oklahoma City
48. Birmingham
52. Grand Rapids
54. Honolulu
64. Knoxville
65. Greenville
69. Baton Rouge
70. McAllen
71. Dayton
72. Columbia
80. Syracuse

Count 'em up: that's only 12 out of the top 80.

85% of the top 80 metro areas can be navigated with the help of Google Maps Transit.

97.5% of the top 40 can. Jacksonville is the 2.5%!

I feel this is a more important issue than people realize and imagine wise it looks very bad for a city of Jacksonville's size. Lets not continue to feed into the stereotype that this city is 10 years behind it's contemporaries.

Google Transit started in early December 2005 with Portland, Oregon. 26 months from now, it won't be a stereotype. Who wants to bet Jax still won't be on there? This thread was started 47 months ago.

[tufsu1]

Tampa's HART system just became the first transit system in Florida to deliver real time information using Google Transit and Google Maps

[thelakelander]

Google Transit started in early December 2005 with Portland, Oregon. 26 months from now, it won't be a stereotype. Who wants to bet Jax still won't be on there? This thread was started 47 months ago.

Scrub Palmetto, we're not dense enough for Google Transit to work here. 

[Scrub Palmetto]

Tampa's HART system just became the first transit system in Florida to deliver real time information using Google Transit and Google Maps

At first glance, it looks the same as usual. Is this just a way of updating the timetables when a bus is delayed or *gasp* early?

Scrub Palmetto, we're not dense enough for Google Transit to work here. 

I guess we need the "effective substitute" to Google Transit. Maybe Ask Jeeves Transit... the rubber tired version of trip planning.

[ProjectMaximus]

Google Transit started in early December 2005 with Portland, Oregon. 26 months from now, it won't be a stereotype. Who wants to bet Jax still won't be on there? This thread was started 47 months ago.

Scrub Palmetto, we're not dense enough for Google Transit to work here. 

LOL! I'm thinking JTA will unveil BRGT pretty soon.

[tufsu1]

Tampa's HART system just became the first transit system in Florida to deliver real time information using Google Transit and Google Maps

At first glance, it looks the same as usual. Is this just a way of updating the timetables when a bus is delayed or *gasp* early?

here's some info

http://www.masstransitmag.com/press_release/11191023/fl-hart-launches-real-time-transit-trip-updates-on-google-maps