News Release

Release date: Dec. 4, 2001

Riding the bus just got easier

King County debuts new online trip planner for Metro and other transit service

King County Metro Transit travels over hill, over dale, across the lake and past the trail. Now, figuring out which route to take to get to all those places is right at customers' fingertips.

County Executive Ron Sims today unveiled Metro Transit's latest piece of customer service technology -- the Web Trip Planner.

"Today, I am very pleased to deliver a service our customers have requested that uses technology to make daily life easier," said Sims. "Metro's new Trip Planner allows anyone to use a computer to plan transit trips based on location, destination, time and ease of travel."

Transit trip planning answers the question: "How do I get from here to there on Metro Transit?" It also works for several Sound Transit routes and Sounder Commuter Rail.

This new Internet feature provides door-to-door trip planning using addresses, intersections or landmark information for starting and ending points of a trip.

The Trip Planner allows passengers to customize their trip plan by choosing:

• either arrival time at their destination or departure time at their starting point.
• the fastest trip, the trip with fewest transfers or the trip with least walking.
• a trip for disabled riders using lift-equipped buses at accessible bus stops.

"This is a great service for people who already ride the bus, but it's a tremendous help for those who are unfamiliar with Metro's service, schedules and routes," said Sims. "With the Trip Planner, riding the bus couldn't get much easier."

Using the Trip Planner, passengers can get detailed information on:

• each transit leg of the trip.
• walking directions to, from and between all stops on a trip.
• easy bus identification, including route number and overhead signage, for each leg of the trip.
• information about specific bus stops.

King County Metro Rider Information specialists have used this technology since 1999 to provide trip planning services for customers on the phone. Web trip planning will supplement that service -- and should help cut down the wait on the phone lines.

Also in the works is regional trip planning. Sometime during 2002, combined data from King County Metro; all of Sound Transit; and Pierce, Community and Everett Transit will become available for regional trip planning. Future additions could include service information for the Seattle Monorail, Washington State Ferry System and Sound Transit's Link light rail.

King County's Trip Planner software was funded largely by a federal grant. The Regional Trip Planning Project has received federal funding for more than 80 percent of the project costs.

Metro Transit's new Trip Planner service is now available on the Internet at http://transit.metrokc.gov -- the Metro Online Web site.

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