Sound Transit launches new website featuring improved trip planner, rider-focused design

Faster, easier access to more information will improve commuting experience. Sound Transit in Seattle, Wash., has launched a new website with features that make it easier for people to take advantage of bus and train service throughout the region. In addition to a clean, intuitive design, the website features an improved trip planner with interactive maps that provide more information about transit connections and the locations of stations, stops and parking. Schedules are easier to read. Menus are designed to be more intuitive for riders. As before, the trip planner covers all Sound Transit services as well as those of other regional agencies. "More than 90 percent of the people who log on to our website are riders. Their input was critical to our process," said Ron Klein, Sound Transit executive director of Communications and External Affairs. "We listened, we tested, we revised and we tested again." The site is located at www.soundtransit.org. Improvements to the trip planner include the ability to type in start and end points of a transit trip and see multiple options on an interactive map. The map allows riders to change the start and end points by dropping and dragging colored flags. The locations of parking facilities and transit stations and stops are easier to find than on the old trip planner. Rider alerts - the best way to get breaking information on issues that affect service - have been highlighted and improved. Riders can continue to subscribe to receive rider alerts and an array of other information via e-mail or text messages.