Entering the Origin and Destination location information for your trip itinerary is as follows:

Address, Intersection, or LandmarkEnter a specific address (e.g., 50 Wolf Rd), intersection (separated by a semicolon “;”, e.g., Madison Ave; 54th St) or a common landmark (e.g., Statue of Liberty).

You can still use the Transit Trip Planner if you are unsure of the exact street address. The Transit Trip Planner uses Google Auto-Complete to help you identify the correct address. You can also click on the map to indicate the approximate origin and destination of your trip. Zoom in, as needed, to see more street detail.

Plot Origin/Destination: Clicking on the map once at a particular geographical location displays a popup that enables you to plot your origin and destination. Selecting the radio button for origin/destination and clicking Plot Point, displays the origin as a green flag and the destination as a red flag, indicating the origin and destination that you would like to use for your transit itinerary.

All the fields in the Travel Options section of the 511NY Transit Trip Itinerary form are optional, which means you can leave the default selections as they are currently displayed. Otherwise, enter your travel or itinerary preferences as follows:

Options: Click on the drop-down list to select your itinerary preference:

• Fewest transfers (Will provide trip information from your origin to your destination with the least amount of transfer options)
• Fastest Itinerary (Will provide trip information from your origin to your destination for the fastest trip available, regardless of number of transfers. Up to 8 legs and seven (7) transfers are possible)

Special Needs: Click on the drop-down list to select any special needs for your trip, e.g., wheelchair boarding.

Select: Click on the drop down list to select your carrier preference for route consideration in the itinerary:

• Any – The default selection, searches all carriers in the system.
• Include – allows you to choose a specific carrier name to consider for at least one portion of the itinerary trip plan. Include will guarantee an itinerary with this carrier on at least one leg of the trip.
• Exclude – allows you to exclude a specific carrier name from the itinerary trip plan.
• Only – allows you to request a specific carrier name for the entire itinerary trip plan. Choosing the only option will yield a trip utilizing only the specific carrier selected.

Carrier: Based on the Select carrier filter above, click on the drop-down list to pick the Carrier name to consider. The list contains all the carriers that are active in the 511NY Transit Trip Planner System.

Consider Park-N-Rides in Itinerary: Click on the check box to include Park-N-Ride options in your Itinerary.

After completion of the Travel Options, select Submit to see the results of your itinerary request

511NY Transit Trip Planner generates an itinerary based on your request entries, starting with the first leg of your trip to your final destination. The Transit Trip Planner Itinerary includes the time that is needed for the first boarding point to your final destination and strives to produce an itinerary with the least amount of walking distance when calculating an itinerary for the fewest transfers request.

Example Itinerary Result and Descriptions:

Each itinerary begins with a description of the selected starting point location where you board your first transit vehicle, (which is prefaced by “Depart…”). The itinerary results then show each leg of the trip, followed by the description of your final destination, as entered on the itinerary request. The following is an example of an itinerary result:

The itinerary results include:

• Get the Next Best Itinerary.
• Walking Map: displays the walking route based on your selected trip origin and destination, including any transfer points.
• Revise Trip: an option for creating a new Itinerary.
• Return Trip: review and submit the return trip from your destination to your origin.
• Onward Trip: create another trip that leaves from your original itinerary’s destination to a new destination
• New Trip: create a new itinerary request
• Carrier: a link to the selected Carrier website and to view additional carrier details.

1. What if there is no transit stop within 1/2 mile of the starting location?
511NY Transit Trip Planner examines all transit stops within 1/2 mile of your starting location. If there is no transit stop within this distance, it will select the next nearest stop within five miles of your starting location. The calculated itinerary may begin at any of these possible transit stops. If the recommended itinerary result does not provide your anticipated local Carrier to one of the segments of your trip it is possible that the specific carrier may not yet have their service data included in the 511NY database. A listing of currently participating carriers is available at the Carrier drop-down list.

2. I’m unfamiliar with the area. Will the Transit Trip Planner show me where the closest stop is and tell me how to get there?
Yes. When viewing your itinerary click on the walking map icon. Another window will open a map window showing the starting point of your trip and where you will pick up the service as well as provide you with detailed directions (which can also be printed).