Google Maps - Transit Bookmark

Google Maps now has bus route and schedule information for GRT, which is pretty handy, particularly for factoring in walking times and coordinating multiple busses. It often points out alternative routes/connections I hadn't thought of that are faster or more convenient.

The integrated Google Maps app for IOS is nice, but the interface feels a bit awkward or backwards to me for some tasks. For figuring out bus routes and schedules, there's some advantages to Google's mobile web interface.

However: getting to that interface still requires some annoying navigation when what I really want to be able to do is just quickly and directly ask, "if I want to take a bus to [here], what are my options?"

So I hacked together a bookmark that lets me do exactly that. Here's the link, or you can copy and paste:

http://maps.google.com/maps/m?gl=ca#ll=0,0&saddr=&daddr=&ttype=now&dirflg=r&ac=t,

You can also open that link and then add it to your home screen for quick access.

This bookmark jumps you straight to the form to enter your destination, with public transit set as your mode of transportation. There's a handy "leaving now / depart at / arrive by" option right there, too. On my iPhone, the starting address always defaults to "current location", but not always when I test it on my desktop... there's something funny about the geolocation request it performs, and if it silently fails or doesn't get an answer in time it will just leave a blank field as the starting point. (The iPhone, with its GPS, seems immune to this problem.)