Google Maps can be great if you have a car, but if you're among the masses who need to use public transportation like the bus or train it can be frustrating to find out where you need to end up, but not know exactly how you're going to make it there.

In an effort to help out bus riders everywhere, Google has added a new transit layer to its map service that allows you to see an overlay of all the available modes of public transportation over your traditional street map. The transit layer can be added by clicking the "More" button at the top of the screen and then checking the "Transit" box. If a displayed agency is a part of Google Transit then you can also check out its schedules and itineraries to help plan your journey.

One huge downside of the service is that the maps are geographically correct (unlike your traditional transit maps that have been simplified for easy understanding) so they can be difficult to understand to the average bus rider. The service also currently isn't integrated with Google's trip planner so while you can see the transit options, you're on your own when it comes to figuring out how to use them.

Overall this is a pretty nice step in the world of public transportation. Theoretically you can find your ultimate destination on a map, and then be able to easily see what your travel options are as far as public transportation goes.  We'd love to see further versions be able to give you more specific directions such as "Catch the bus at the corner of 9th and Main at 9:10 a.m." which could be exceptionally useful when it comes to planning trips in cities where you're not very familiar with how the transportation system works and need to be able to get around. While you can do that now with Google Maps, the feature is not fully intergrated with the new transit layer feature.

The service has currently launched in 50 cities (which surprisingly does not include NYC or LA) with more hopefully headed down the pipeline soon.
 

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