With a new service at Google Maps, Deutsche Bahn and Google are increasing the options for passing information on to rail travellers. From now on, the search engine provider will offer information about train connections in Google Maps, which is the start of Google Transit in Germany. This completes the functionality of a card-based route planner for Google.
In addition to the existing route suggestions for car drivers and pedestrians, Google Maps now also offers users recommended connections on regional and long-distance trains operated by Deutsche Bahn. To obtain a route recommendation via Google Transit, users only have to enter the place of departure and the destination. Google Transit automatically selects the fastest connections, but users can also decide the time and date of travel.
Based on DB’s timetable data, Google Transit calculates all possible train connections within the given time framework, with time, train type and duration of the journey. For the first time with Google Transit there is a direct link, Deeplink, which leads the user to the booking process at bahn.com without the need to enter all the travel data again. At this point the customer also finds out more about the current status of the selected connection.
“The co-operation with Google is another important addition to our services,” said Ulrich Homburg, Chairman of Passenger Transport at Deutsche Bahn. “Now travellers can find DB exactly where they are looking for comprehensive information for their journey planning. Moreover, Google Transit makes the comparison with other travel options and journey times even better.”
Raphael Leiteritz, Product Manager at Google, said: “We are very pleased to be offering Google Transit in Germany now too and thereby making Google Maps even more attractive. Our route planning is excellently complemented by the DB connections and our users receive all train connections of Deutsche Bahn directly integrated in Google Maps.”
