Media release 15 February 2012RAIL Back On Track ( http://backontrack.org ) a web based community support group for rail and public transport and an advocate for public transport passengers, has called for TransLink to make good on its commitment to release timetable data to Google, a commitment which is more than a year overdue [1].Robert Dow, Spokesman for RAIL Back On Track said:"In the so-called 'smart state', Brisbane commuters can't use Google map functions to plan a journey using public transport, despite this service being provided free of charge and available in more than 500 cities around the world.""It may come as a surprise to residents of the South East, but Queensland already has many examples of Google Transit  for major regional centres such as Cairns, Townsville, and Toowoomba. Even Maleny has it! The difference? These areas are serviced by qconnect, under the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR).""Furthermore, TransLink should release this data to the general public and third-party tools such as Mapnificent [2], in the form of a General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS)[3]. The GTFS format is also what Google requires, so its not hard to do both!"GTFS 'feeds' allow public transit agencies to publish their transit data so that developers can write applications that consume that data in an inter-operable way.The GTFS specification can provide schedules and geographic information to Google Maps and other Google applications that show transit information. Complete coverage is available at www.google.com/transit "It is time TransLink followed TMR's lead and made the data available."References:1. http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2010/07/brisbane-promises-google-maps-transport-integration-by-year-end/ 2. http://www.mapnificent.net/ 3. http://developers.google.com/transit/gtfs/ Contact:Robert DowAdministrationadmin@backontrack.orgRAIL Back On Track http://backontrack.org