X

Google Maps groks New York public transit

Data on one of the most complicated public transportation systems is now available through Google Transit. The service covers regional systems, too.

Stephen Shankland Former Principal Writer
Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
Expertise Processors, semiconductors, web browsers, quantum computing, supercomputers, AI, 3D printing, drones, computer science, physics, programming, materials science, USB, UWB, Android, digital photography, science. Credentials
  • Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
Stephen Shankland

Google Transit now offers directions for New York.
Google Transit now offers directions for New York. (Click to enlarge.) CNET News

It's too late to use it to get to T-Mobile's launch of the first phone using Google's Android operating system, but Google Maps now offers the ability to navigate using New York City's public transit system.

The online map service now has data from New York's Metropolitan Transit Agency, one of the largest, most complicated, and most widely used transportation systems. It includes data from buses and subways, the Long Island Rail Road, the Long Island Bus, the Metro-North Railroad, and the MTA Bus Company. And it connects to regional systems, including New Jersey Transit's commuter rail, light rail and bus service, the Staten Island Ferry, and the Port Authority's PATH Rail, AirTrain JFK, and AirTrain Newark.

So you can see one reason why more than 75 other public transit agencies made it in Google Transit first.

The service is available through Google Maps. Public-transit options will appear next to driving directions, and public-transit icons for locations such as subway stations will appear on the map, Google said.