Google

Google Maps will now show how late and crowded your transit commute is going to be

This is definitely going to come in handy.

by
Joe Rice-Jones
June 28, 2019

google maps app showing transit crowdedness feature

Image: Google

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Google Maps has been steadily packing in the features lately, and now it’s turned to improving the public transit experience.

A new update that started rolling out yesterday brought live traffic updates for buses, and crowdedness indicators for any local bus, train, and subway systems. This is beyond clutch on so many levels.

Crowded subway trains and bus times will now show up on Google Maps

most crowded public transit routes in boston — Image: Google

Google got the data for these predictions by asking Maps users how crowded the bus or subway they were on was. The live traffic updates for buses are for places where Google Maps doesn’t already get live updates from transit operators.

The test data was gathered between October 2018 and June 2019, during peak commute times (6 am – 10 am).
Only one of the top 10 most crowded routes worldwide was in the U.S., New York’s infamous L train.
Bus delays are predicted from a combination of the known car traffic delays and bus route schedules.

Gotta say, I wish Google Maps had this functionality a few years ago when I still lived in DC. The Metro was always overcrowded on some lines, and buses were often late if they turned up at all.

The new features are now available to iOS and Android devices.

Do you find these features useful? Is this something you’ve been looking for in Google Maps? Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.