Eight years ago — before it was even known as Metrolinx — the newborn Greater Toronto Transportation Authority promised a region-wide, web-based transit trip planner.

The idea was to provide a tool that would help riders plan a journey beginning-to-end, even if it required using multiple municipal transit services and GO.

On Tuesday Metrolinx finally unveiled Triplinx, an $8.6-million online tool that provides step-by-step, real-time directions for transit riders whether they're only taking a single local bus or whether they're crossing several municipal borders.

Although it makes planning the journey easier, Triplinx won't make the trip itself less cumbersome. In fact, it's instructive as to just how much longer it takes to use transit if you're traveling outside traditional downtown commuting routes — a growing reality for many Toronto area residents.

The Star plugged in several random journeys on Tuesday afternoon that crossed municipal borders. Triplinx provided clear directions but discouraging predictions on travel times:

To go from Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga to Vaughan Mills Centre would take at least two transfers and two hours.

Some trips simply didn't compute on first or second try. To get from the parking lot at Brampton City Hall to Centennial Park in Etobicoke, the planner required the user to modify the 1,000-metre default walking distance. It's up to the user to try to figure out how much to lengthen their walk to or from the nearest transit stop. With a 2,000-metre walking distance, Triplinx provided a plan that takes two to three transfers and about one hour and 45 minutes.

Even a relatively short trip from Sheridan College in Oakville to the Mississauga campus of U of T takes two bus transfers, a doubling of the planner's 1,000-metre walk and an hour — for a journey that would take 17 minutes to drive, according to Googlemaps.

GO, the TTC, Brampton, Burlington, Durham Region, Oakville, Milton, Mississauga, York Region, Durham Region, Milton and Hamilton transit systems have been incorporated into Triplinx. The Union Pearson Express is also online. But other local bus services that connect to GO, such as Kitchener and Guelph, are not included.

The trip planner will also include information on getting to Pan Am Games venues.

The tool was developed by Cityway, a French company with a Canadian office.

Metrolinx says the trip planner took years to develop because regional transit agencies had to provide their information to Google.

"However, this is the first project that has taken a long-term and comprehensive approach to providing the best possible information for the region’s transit riders," said Metrolinx spokeswoman Anne Marie Aikins.

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