Bing Maps Gets Transit Directions

Commuters rejoice! Today Bing Maps added transit routing to its directions options. So, for those of you who like to take the bus, subway, or local rail you now can turn to Bing Maps. This is a very important feature for us as public transit grows in popularity and coverage. There are more than 10.7 billion public transit passenger trips per year in the US alone.

In this initial release (i.e. more to come) of Bing Maps transit directions, Bing Maps will cover 11 cities: Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New Jersey, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC, and Vancouver.

TransittoSeattle.JPG

You will notice in the screenshot that the transit information is featured alongside each route option. This helps users easily compare route options based on their existing knowledge of the transit and their preferences. Transit options are available for bus, subway, light rail, and local rail. For those of you interested, in the comments section I’ll post the public transit providers we’re servicing for each city. So you know where to find transit routing, you’ll need to head to our AJAX site on the desktop.

Transit is today’s big news, but we’ve also improved our business details and information about landmarks. Open up movie house detail pages and you’ll see movie listings added to the “nearby” panel. You’ll also see more details on hours of operation on these listings. Search for landmarks like the Space Needle and you’ll see the landmark’s contact information, related businesses, and details right there in the results.

So just go to Bing Maps to try out our new transit routing, improved business details and landmark information and use the feedback link to let us know what you think. Enjoy!