Google: Transit produces ’sub-optimal’ routes; Pope: ‘possibly’ Catholic
Oh, Google. Your Google Transit site for King County Metro has produced some hilarious and suicidal routes.
So, how do you respond?
In an e-mail, a Google spokeswoman said no other Google Transit regions were affected. She explained that a data error was causing a small percentage of people using the Seattle service to receive “accurate but sub-optimal” route suggestions.
That’s right. A route suggestion that includes crossing a busy highway to change buses? That’s “sub-optimal.” Is that the cool, hip new businessspeak for “insane,” “suicidal,” or “more akin to a bus tour of the West Coast than a transit ride?’
In fact, it appears that my route wasn’t even the most ludicrious. One commenter showed a route from Lower Queen Anne to Capitol Hill that was routed through Wallingford and the U District. Another one requires a flying car.
“Sub-optimal?” My car’s gas mileage is sub-optimal. (I mean, 18mpg in the city on a compact? You ever wonder why you’re bankrupt, Ford?) This is… I don’t know what this is. I just want some of these Google programmers and PR people to come try these routes out.
I’ve heard rumors of routings that make the Jersey barrier hopping, city touring, flying bus wishing routes we’ve seen so far sound positively… optimal. So, let’s have a little contest — find the Most Sub-Optimal Suggestion in Google Transit. And yes, it must be in the King County Metro system — no “walking on the Willamette” please. The winner will receive an Pitifully Small Prize. I don’t know what it will be, but I’ll find something appropriate. I’ll round up a couple other Metrobloggers to help judge.
So… have at it. Find the most sub-optimal King County Metro route in Google Transit.
Either Google really, really likes me or I’m not very creative at inventing destinations, but all my proposed trips make sense…well, with one little caveat:
Google REALLY, REALLY wants you to walk.
If you want to go from Seattle Central Community College to SeaTac Airport, why, yes, you should take the 194 when you get downtown but Google thinks to get downtown you should walk–there’s nary a mention of the numerous buses that pass SCCC to go downtown. I picked three random (but valid) Capitol Hill addresses and paired them with three trips that I know involve transferring downtown and sure enough, no matter high up the hill you are or how close you are to a stop for a bus that goes downtown, Google thinks you should walk.
They want you to walk up the hill from downtown, too. I guess they’re exercise fans.
They also think you can walk as the crow flies, rather than follow the actual roads and sidewalks. To get downtown from where I live (160th/27th NE), I’m supposed to walk to 145th/17th NE. The map shows me cutting across diagonally. Could be fun, I suppose, jumping all those fences and avoiding dogs and such.
Google also thinks that I can walk that distance in 17 minutes. Going by street/sidewalk, rather than as-the-crow-flies, it’s 1.3 miles. That comes out to about 4.6 miles per hour.
I don’t know about you, but even without jumping fences and avoiding dogs, my top comfortable walking speed is between 3 and 3.5 mph.
Google wants me to walk less than I do. I walk to the office, which is about a 15 minute walk, but Google thinks I should walk two blocks in the wrong direction, catch a bus that stops two blocks past where I want to go, and walk back to my office.
Clearly, Google thinks that my routine isn’t scenic enough.