In Toronto, you can turn on your mobile phone, launch the Google Maps app, input your current location and your desired destination, and instantly have a public transit route to get to that destination laid out on the screen.

You can do the same in Sarnia, Niagara Falls, Orillia, Kingston, North Bay, Thunder Bay and in many other cities across Ontario, Canada, and the world. In fact, any city on this list is supported.

But you can't plan a transit route using Google Maps in London, Ontario. London isn't on that list.

Why?

Because the London Transit Commission hasn't provided their route information to Google, yet.

First, a primer. Google features a partnership programme whereby public transit authorities from around the world can provide their route and stop information to Google for inclusion into the Google Maps service, enabling Maps to plan route transfers for people, provide stop times, and even provide automatic Google Now cards when people with supported Android devices approach transit stops.



This service is free to both the public transit authority in question, and to any end-user of Google Maps.

In other words, providing route information to Google wouldn't cost the London Transit Commission a dime.

Our request is a simple one. We want the London Transit Commission to provide its route information to Google pursuant to the Google Transit Partner Program.

Why does this benefit everyone?

• Integration with Google Maps would make it easier than ever before to plan trips using London Transit

• Integration with Google Maps would be much more user-friendly for visitors to London. Currently the London Transit website can be hard to find and navigate, which is a concern given the upcoming ISU World Figure Skating Championships

• Integration would make it especially easy to plan routes involving transfers

• Integration would make it easy to find transit options on the go, using a mobile phone or tablet. The current LTC website is difficult to navigate using a touch screen.

• Increased ease-of-use for public transit will increase ridership

• It's FREE.

To read about how the Google Transit Partner Program has helped other public transit authorities, you can click here.