Google and Mass Transit
July 20, 2008
I wrote about Google’s routing patent document in my KMWorld column several months ago. The patent application is US20060149461, and you can get a copy here. Tim Doulin (The Columbus Dispatch) wrote “COTA Riders Get Help from Google in Planning Trips.” (COTA is an acronym for Central Ohio Transit Authority.)
The idea is that a person wanting to ride a bus can navigate to the COTA home page and use Google’s technology to as a trip planner. “More than 50 transit agencies around the world,” writes Mr. Doulin, “offer it.” You can read Mr. Doulin’s well written essay here.
For me this is an important news item. The “transportation” invention is a deeper function than showing bus routes and pick up times. US20060149461 allows a transit authority to shift from published routes to floating routes. Riders, according to the invention, can send a request to Google, receive a pick up time and location, and make use of individual buses that follow dynamic routes.
Once Google achieves critical mass with its “plain vanilla” route service, the company may be pulled into a cloud based routing service. The benefits of the Google invention include reduced wait times, flexible routing around traffic jams, and reduced fuel consumption.
Google and mass transportation. I recall mentioning this function in a briefing last year and I was greeted with head shaking and snorts of disbelief. Might it not be time to start watching Google and learning about the company’s “search without search” methods. Could Google become a cloud based services provider in public transportation?
Google is an application platform, not an ad agency, dear readers.
Stephen Arnold, July 20, 2008
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