Now I've Got My Magic Bus

Did you know that we have public transportation in Houston? No, really! It's true! Aside from the fancy-schmancy light rail (remember to mark your calendars for Houstonist's annual Light Rail Pub Crawl on March 6th!), METRO buses run throughout the city and are an increasingly attractive way to get around for those on a budget. One of the greatest drawbacks to using METRO, however, has always been the confusing route system and METRO's equally confusing "Trip Planner" on their mostly useless website. But now the gods at Google have made even METRO easy to use (is there anything they can't make shinier and better?). All you have to do is go to Google Transit and enter your starting point and destination. Voila! You'll see your entire route mapped out for you -- even how far you have to walk, which stop to go to and how long the bus ride will take. Now all that's standing between you and a bus trip is a Q Card. Unfortunately, the folks at Google haven't tackled that one yet. [via Swamplot]