Online Trip Planner now has bus, train and ferry schedules
Puget Sound commuters and travelers who journey by land and by sea now have an easy online way to figure out all their connections. Beginning today, the regional online Trip Planner will contain schedule information for buses, commuter rail, light rail, and Washington State Ferries.
The addition of ferry information to the Trip Planner allows people to plan trips between ferry terminals in Kitsap, Island, Snohomish, Pierce and King counties to any point served by the five transit agencies covering King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties.
Instead of looking up each leg of the trip on a different website or paper schedule, passengers can do it all via the regional Trip Planner.
You can now plan a car-less trip between two far-flung destinations – like Kingston to Bonney Lake – with just a few clicks of the computer keys. Trip Planner provides information on departure and arrival times, routes, boarding locations, and fares.
“Adding state ferry information is just the latest in a series of enhancements that has made Trip Planner so popular with transit passengers in our three-county metropolitan area,” said King County Metro Transit General Manager Kevin Desmond. “Last year, there were more than 2.4 million visits to the website, and the number of trips planned were nearly double that number.”
Metro Transit debuted the first online Trip Planner in December 2001. The Regional Trip Planner went live in early 2003 – expanding the service with information on public transit in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties, including Sound Transit's Regional Express bus routes, Sounder commuter rail, Tacoma Link light rail, and the Seattle Center Monorail.
The latest addition to the Trip Planner database will provide information for Washington State Ferry routes serving 12 terminals: Kingston; Bremerton; Bainbridge; Edmonds; Clinton; Mukilteo; Seattle; Fauntleroy; Vashon; Tahlequah; Point Defiance; and Southworth.
“The state ferries are a natural expansion of the Trip Planner,” said Mike Anderson, acting executive director of Washington State Ferries. “We carry more than 6.2 million foot passengers a year, who will greatly appreciate the information on how to link up with ground transportation near our terminals.”
Sound Transit and the Washington State Department of Transportation funded the $14,500 cost of adding the ferry schedules to Trip Planner, and Metro staff integrated them into the existing database. There are now a total of six transportation agencies participating in the online service: Metro Transit; Sound Transit; Pierce Transit; Community Transit; Everett Transit; and the Washington State Ferries [external links].
“This has been a great regional partnership that provides an outstanding service for all of our passengers,” said Marty Minkoff, Sound Transit’s Director of Transportation Services. “Whether they travel by bus, train or boat, the expanded Trip Planner makes it easier to connect people and communities.”
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