Metro Not as Cool as MoCo

MoCo's bus schedules now on your cell phone

By CHRIS NEEDHAM

Updated 4:30 PM EST, Mon, Nov 2, 2009

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Metro's commuters have a bad case of Google envy, especially those not traveling in from the northwest on the Red Line.

Montgomery County has signed on to be a part of Google Transit says Greater Greater Washington. The county's Ride On bus service now is fully integrated with Google Maps.

So now when you're wandering outside White Flint Mall, having spent all but a few quarters at Dave and Busters, and you're trying to figure out how to get back home to Gaithersburg, all you have to do is pop out your phone, stroke a few keys, and the magical computing machine tells you what buses you need to take.

There's no need to stare at one of those messy maps with colored lines and confusing numbers squiggling everywhere, to dark corners of the county that might as well be in Iowa.

Metro's been hesitant to participate in the service for any number of reasons, from fears of the loss of website advertising revenue to concerns about the accuracy and format of the data they'd share. Whatever the excuse, all Google-loving commuters hear is "blah, blah, blah."

Metro reportedly is inching closer to sharing data, with a January 1 target.

But until then, MoCo's the cool kid on the block -- the one with the stylish jeans and the hottest technology. WMATA will get D.C. there. Some day. Perhaps.