Google Now will tell you when to get off the bus
published

Google Now can now alert you when it's time to get off your bus or train. When you open Google Now while on public transportation, you may find that it offers you an alarm for locations that you may have saved, such as home and work, and all you need to do is tap to activate it. Using Google's public transit data, Now will tell you when to disembark when you reach the stop closest to your destination.
This alarm appears to be separate from the standard Android Clock application, existing entirely in Google Now. Do you think that you'll get some use out of this new alarm? Tell us below in the comments.
via: Android Police
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93 Comments
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So useful Posted via Android Central App
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or useless if you drive a car
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Some of us can't do that friend... :-)
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Yeah I know like how tf do we do that anyway?
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Like you will NEVER use public transportation one time for the rest of your life....get over yourself!!
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Or useful if u dont.
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Houston Texas Metro Bus Transit costs me $2.50 a day to get to work and home. Driving my car costs me about $20.00 a day, that includes parking. I save $17.00 a day to get home 1 hour later.
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It costs me less to take the train from Indianapolis to Chicago, and depending on traffic it might take me less time also.
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Thanks Google Posted via Android Central App on Google Nexus 7 2013
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This is the exact kind of stuff Google now should do. Brilliant. Only problem is no signal on the subway in NYC. Man this could have saved me hours falling asleep past my subway stop after to long a work day... Posted via Android Central App
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I was recently in Tokyo, and I always had cell service, even when underground in the subways. Being used to the NYC metro, I was pleasantly surprised.
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They also had camera phones and touchscreen devices when I was there in 1999...a good 3-5 years before those were standard here in the US. Their tech is far ahead of ours!!
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They always have the best stuff first. Posted via Android Central App on The Nexus 5
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That's actually a great misconception about Japan. They do have a lot of high-tech but in general the majority of Japan, outside of Tokyo, is so hilariously out of date, technologically, that you'll feel like you're back in the 90's in most parts. It's more obvious when you've worked there.
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I spent a vast majority of my time off-base in either Yokohama, Kawasaki (I loved their shopping district) or various areas of Tokyo...especially Shibuya. What I saw there (again, 15 years ago) was years ahead of anything we had home in the US. I didn't get too far from the urban areas much, so that may explain why we see two different sides of Japan.
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As a person who newly takes public transit all over Los Angeles (Car is down for awhile) I can truely say Google now is a life saver. I have my work schedule in my Google Calendar with the address saved and the notification's are spot on for when I need to leave to catch my bus or train this is just the icing on the cake man. Imagine this with #GoogleWear can't wait. #GoogleNow
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Omg !!! I normally know when it's time to get off the bus, i just look out the window ffs !!!
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Maybe some people sleep on the bus? Sent from my Nexus 5 :-D
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Oh please !!
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Or if you're taking public transit in a different city, or to an unfamiliar location in your own town.
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this.
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Some people live in their own little bubbles, not looking at the big picture. This thread alone has about 15 responses already indicating this... This feature is awesome, why WOULDNT anyone want this!? Knowledge is power :)
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Tell the fat smelly guy next to you to wake you up.
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Obviously you know every bust stop in existence everywhere.
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Rattled your cage then eh? No do i bollox but neither do i need Google reminding me where to get off !! If Google sends you a reminder where to get off that obviously means you've programmed it to via whatever Google app which means you already know where to get off! !
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If you read correctly, you'd notice the blog said you turn it on situationally. This means that when you take a new bus to a new location, or whatever the "situation" is, you can turn on the reminder in Google Now. Pretty nice if you ask me. This of course means that you don't need to turn the reminder on for your ritual daily trips, and it doesn't have to annoy you. In consequence, you then don't have to annoy us about it :)
Don't like it, don't use it! -
Freedom of speech pal, and no, i stopped using Google now when it was sending me fk'in stupid notification cards "you will arrive home in 4 minutes" mmmm ..ok, I'm 6.5 miles from home and I'm not even at the bus stop yet !!
I was getting all sorts of stupid notifications like that every day for all manner of different subjects so i had to turn it off, all joking aside it just don't work for me. -
No feedom og speech means you can say what ever bullshit you want but not that we have to listen to your shit so please go be unpleasant somewhere els on the internet, mkay?..
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Having a bit of trouble with your keyboard old chap? Going off your last post it's a case of kettle calling the pan black ..grow up.
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OMG freedom of speech does not mean people can't think you're an a-hole when you act like one. Freedom of speech merely preserves your right to make an ass of yourself; how people treat you based on that is on you. Just because YOU don't find Google Now to be useful doesn't mean others won't or shouldn't. I could find this useful if I were traveling in a new city, or one foreign to me.
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I'm not acting like an ass, it's just my view on it. It has always been unreliable, my god even sports news cards were like 2 days old. I've got to be honest with you i don't know many people that do use it. Is it favoured more in the states i wonder ?
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Maybe? Maybe services get rolled out in the US first, so it wouldn't surprise me if it worked better in the US to begin with. Ironically, Premier League scores show up consistently and accurately for me.
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I just use Live Score for match days, it's brilliant
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Freedom of speech. I don't think it means what you think it means...asshole. Posted via Android Central App
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I got those too, but mine was …15 minutes to 'work'.....i don't want to go to work!!! I have the day off, and I'm at a frie d's house across town!! Or the best was some random place I had googled on my desktop last year....10 minutes to 'main moon'....wtf??? lol I had to turn that entire portion off because it seriously got to the point where every time I left my house I'd get a notification that something was xxx minutes away....it was like having a television in my pocket turned on a channel that is commercials 24\7
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Thank god someone can understand what i went through lol, you must live in the UK lightyear?
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Suburb of NYC.
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Manchester UK ..Hi pal and im afraid it's good night. Hope to see you on here again.
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For the longest time I couldn't get it to recognize "navigate home" or "navigate to work" despite the fact that I had the locations set in google now, and google maps. I was shocked when I found out that the glitch was that I hadn't set my location(s) in my personal info in Google Plus. WTF? If I set them in Google now, directly, why should I also need them there? Its a stupid arrangement the way they have these things non-intuitively linked and it makes troubleshooting a nightmare. It can make it appear that many things happen randomly even though they might be tied to your Google plus or other linked Google account. Google Now is one of the most non-intuitive things I have ever worked with. Google makes a number of cool things - for me, this isn't one of them. It's more an exercise in inconsistency and frustration than anything else.
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I think the article says "to places you might have saved" or am I reading it wrong. Posted via Android Central App
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This has just blown out of context i think, bed time for me.
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I have missed my stop whenever I took a different bus or route so this can be useful if ur going somewhere else besides work or home. Posted via Android Central App on The Nexus 5
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here's a great idea. don't use it.
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Not so easy to do for someone who is blind. Posted via Android Central App
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Correct, or the bus has taken a detour due to say .. a road accident.
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As someone who is visually impaired and CAN'T see the stops... Yes, this is very useful. Posted via Android Central App
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Do you live in the UK Vava ?
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on the rare occasions i've taken the bus, im always paranoid about not missing my stop. asking the bus driver like ten times until he gets annoyed and just tells me to sit in the seat right next to him so he can tell me exactly when its my stop lol. this will be perfect for me! and i suppose anyone in a new city who goes through the same thing
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I'm sure it would help but I think you would still be paranoid! Posted via Android Central App
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probably! but when that alert comes and i know its time to get off, i would be relieved!
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All of this stuff is turning our brains into mush. Posted via Android Central App
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It is to an extent.. But it allowing our brains to focus on other things. It's natural progression Nexus 4 - CM10.1.3
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indeed.
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It could be very useful for people taking buses in new localities. Posted via Android Central App
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My friend Owen had this idea.. Glad to see it exists now Nexus 4 - CM10.1.3
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How does it know that you're on the bus versus driving a car along a street that has a bus route?
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This is Google setting things up for their Android Wear devices... Posted via Android Central App
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That's a great tool, especially on the bus. Riders can barely see the upcoming stop until after the bus leaves. WAY TO GO GOOGLE! Posted via Android Central App
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Such a great feature for traveling and using unfamiliar transit. I wish the features in Google Now could be integrated into a dashboard app on my phone whole driving. Traffic reports on one of those apps would be a huge improvement for me. Opinion biased due to being one of those Nexus people.
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Fantastic idea! Posted via Android Central App
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I could have used it when taking the train to Boston bruins game 7 but this sounds very useful Posted via Android Central App
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Will it be working in outher countries, ex. in Europe? Or only in USA?
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This is a great feature, especially when traveling in other countries. The only problem is that Maps shows the public transit directions in the language of that country, rather than English, and I can't figure out how to change that! Posted via Android Central App
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Thanks a lot google!!! Go android Posted via my Moto G
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This is definitely a feature for Android Ware.
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Whatever ware you are pointing out. Posted via Android Central App
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Useful sometimes when you're sleeping and realize you're two stops pass urs lol. Posted via Android Central App
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This JS really cool. Wish it were available when I was on the bus in St. Louis two years ago. At that time, I was just happy google told me what bus to take. Posted via Android Central App
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would be interesting to see this on and Android Wear watch
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We're all becoming Google Now's bitch. And its kinda awesome. Posted via Android Central App
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Says the guy with the creepy profile picture... Speak for yourself ;)
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It'd be pretty cool if there was a way to request your stop on the bus from your phone or smartwatch, I've been in the situation where the stop request button isnt near me on the bus
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Will it help u find your zipper too? Posted from my Nexus 7 2013 or Samsung galaxy S5
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To all you who say this is useless: I work nightshift. I get out at 7am, and I take the train to a lot of places around bere. It only runs every two hours or so, so it takes me a long time to get around, and working nights means I have no choice but to sacrifice sleep to get some things done, since they don't operate on my schedlue....like, say, a dentist appointment. If I get out of work at 7, the next train I can catch is at 9. The next train home for me is at noon...so even on a 30 minute dentist appointment I'm not coming home until noon. If it takes me 30 minutes to get home, It's 12:30 by that time. Now....I just got off a hard 8 hour shift at work, sat on the train, went to the dentist's office, had a drink at the bar while waiting for the train to take me home, and now I'm sitting waiting to get home on a train that is rocking slowly back and forth, like a baby's cradle, whike heading down the track. Do you think I might fall asleep? Still think this is useless????
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whoever said its useless should have their phones taken away and replaced with a kyocera flip phone
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Hey! That was the very first phone I owned, even though it was the world's dumbest phone. Lol
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I'd suggest a pager or walkie talkie Posted via Android Central App
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google will rule the world when google now starts telling you #gohomeyouredrunk
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Next Samsung S6 feature: built in breathalyzer test. To be honest, even with how ridiculous that sounds, this would be an incredibly awesome feature, in my opinion. Posted via Android Central App
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I think that all of these new Google Now features are helping lead up to Android Wear. Posted via Android Central App
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You set the alarm to wake you up on your stop only to find out 5 stops later that your phone got stolen... :( Posted via Android Central App
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Hey, at least the criminal got off at the right stop, right? Posted via Android Central App
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This could especially be useful if using public transportation in a foreign country where English is barely used. But I'm sure it's USA only.
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So much useful..Not!
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If you won't use it then that's fine google are not forcing you to use it but others will just be grateful for this and it's free of charge and that google now is all about making your life easier things like this are just the start of a greater future product. Posted via Android Central App
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Great post. Yes it is not for everybody but it is still meant to help some. :) Posted via Android Central App
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Instead of spending over $1000/year on a smart phone and data plan, save that money to buy a used car. Priorities.
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I respect your priority. Hope you respect other's priority too. Posted via Android Central App
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I will definitely use this. I just wish that Google Now allowed for a combination of transit directions (such as driving to a rail station and then taking the train and then walking to your final destination). Currently it will let me use mass transit and walking, but will not let me add driving to the mix.
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Google Maps does this (sort of) when you call up directions from "point a" to "point b" using transit. Once you board the bus or train, it moves a dot along a path to indicate the stops you're cruising past. When you are one stop away, Maps speaks telling you your stop is next. Glad to see that bit of functionality baked into Google Now.
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Perfect timing. Just last week, I was training Llama to do exactly this for me, but it's not reliable enough. Fortunately, today I stayed awake enough to catch it not vibrating - mind you, my everyday route to work involves switching buses somewhere mid-trip, so I need to be awaken TWICE each day. I will be testing this tomorrow.
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I love the people that say this is useless. As if they will always be young, always have a car, always have good eyesight, never take mass transit and never get distracted by another person or their mobile device. Things change. If you don't care about this today, it sets the stage for what you will use in the future at some point. Posted via Android Central App
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Some people here just don't deserve to have a phone. Lots of hatred going on. Why buy a phone when all do is talk trash. Go buy a pager instead Posted via Android Central App