ShareThisTransport agencies like MTC, MRTS do a wonderful job of transporting millions of Chennaiites everyday. But their websites have not evolved fast enough for the transport pattern of 5.2 million trips in a area in excess of 600 sq.km expanding Chennai. Websites developed by private organizations like Metrocommute and Rab significantly reduce the shortcomings of the agency websites.
But no site offers transit connectivity details for a city like Chennai that has so many transport corridors. For example if you had to commute between 2 locations using 2 different modes or using 2 different buses of MTC then you will find it hard to plan this journey via the web. That gives rise to need for solutions like Google Transit, that offer these details. Also giving you the advantage of spatially planning your trip.
Designing a Transit agency is an science as you would see examples from around the web. For instance, Washington Metro where multi-modal trip planning is best illustrated and further more you can actually share this information by email and also have it sent to you via sms if there is a need. Another good example to watch is the Transport For London website that offers an option to search based on the bus stop and areas of interest. The site can also give you the current positions of all buses with reference on any bus stop for any given route. (This is in many ways similar to our MTC facility here) but it is more graphical and easy to comprehend and based on bus stops!)
The Deutche Bahn is another site that is brilliant when it comes to multi-modal planning. Not only does it offer trip planning, it offers you the ability to plan your trip based on your country of origin! Imagine a Chennai visitor being able to plan a trip in MTC depending on his location of entry to Chennai! Here is snapshot of some transit websites and their best features.
