Let me be honest with you – Pune has one of the worst Public Bus transport service compared to many other cities in India. Not only is it very chaotic, connections between the buses are literally non-existent and timings are non-existent too – or atleast that’s what I have experienced till now. In my more than 20 years living in Pune, the situation has been same – it has NOT improved !
I think with Google Transit coming to Pune, it may make first time travelers that much easier to travel intra-city (although, I have my own reservations).
Just to see how well Google Transit performs, I did try and find some really tough routes – and to my surprise, it threw some really good results.
Here is an example – Going from Lulla Nagar to Paud Road, Kothrud.
Now, even though I live in Lulla Nagar, as far as I knew, there is no direct Bus, or a good connecting Bus route, but to my surprise, Google transit was able to give me a pretty decent results for that request!
Not only did it do a decent job of showing me proper route on the map, detailed directions given were quite good as well!
Here is how Google Transit work for commuters of Pune’s PMPML
As Google Maps provide integrated services like local information, driving directions for commuters, with Transit, Pune PMPML commuters would be able to receive information in the following way:
- The user searches for information to reach from Place A to B on Google Maps
- The result shows a map with the possible route and driving directions for the commuter
- By choosing the transit option, commuters would get first hand information on Pune’s routes and schedules
- Commuters get to see the step by step directions for the entire route including frequency, travel duration for each leg of the trip in text and on the map
Google transit is sure to help a lot of first time travelers to Pune.
I just hope that PMPML adheres to bus timings (which I doubt) otherwise, however good the results might be, they are of little use.