Metro has decided to move forward with Google Transit. I’m traveling from NYC back to DC today, so couldn’t listen to the meeting audio, but according to an email from someone there, they expect to be up and running by January 1st. Metro will arrange the deal to maintain an option to pull out if for some reason it turns out they could get a lot of money or something.

Board members asked some questions about indemnification (which Metro should be able to work out as their sister agencies did) and the cost of providing data to Google (which I thought was nil as the data is already in the necessary format, unless the data quality is not good enough).

You can get the audio on the wmata.com site (under About Metro -> Board of Directors, and look for the Customer Service, Operations, and Safety Committee). If you listen to it, please post any additional details in the comments. Michael or I will follow up tomorrow with more.

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Tagged: data openness, google, technology, transit, wmata

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.