Pierce Transit Trip Planner Tutorial

Below is a simple guide to help you with various trip planner functions, both on desktop and mobile.

Navigation

Clicking or tapping the Pierce Transit logo will open a new browser tab and take you to the Pierce Transit homepage.

Clicking or tapping the three horizontal lines will display a pop out menu.

Menu Descriptions

  • Home – navigates to the Pierce Transit homepage in a new browser tab.
  • Next Departures – navigates to the Next Departures screen.
  • Trip Planning – navigates to the Trip Planning screen.
  • Alerts – produces the alerts popup screen.
  • Help – produces the text-based popup screen.
  • Step-by-Step Tutorial – navigates to a tutorial with graphics on the Pierce Transit website in a new browser tab.
  • Feedback – navigates to a general feedback page on the Pierce Transit website in a new browser tab.
  • View Tour Window – displays the “onboarding” screens.
home page screen with link

Two Ways To Plan Your Trip

1. Type an origin and destination. Locations will appear as you type, or they will already be listed due to previous entries.

NOTE: Origin and destinations may be entered as an address, intersection, landmark, or stop ID.
screenshot enter origin and destination

2. Using the map. Left-click from a desktop, laptop computer, or tapping on the map if on a touch screen device and selecting From Here. Then pan the map to a destination and left click or tap on the map once again and choose To Here (or vice versa).

Trip Planning Results

Once an origin and destination have been entered, the trip planner will find itineraries that best match the query. The resulting itineraries will be listed as well as displayed graphically on the map. The trip will show itineraries found.

The initial results list only a summary of each itinerary, including suggested departure and arrival times, trip duration, and which routes are involved.

Select view details to expand an itinerary for more information, including transfers, stop information, walking time and instructions, and fares.

To return to the list of itinerary summaries, select the arrow to the left of itinerary details.

TIP: Making even a slight change to the time of travel, using an intersection, landmark, or stop ID instead of an address, or using or revising other trip planning options will likely provide different results and may improve them. Trip planner users are encouraged to try various features and input for the best possible results.

screenshot view trip details
screenshot view shot time and feedback

View Fares

To view fares, tap or click on the show fare button.  A popup will appear showing the fare breakdown.

In the Itinerary details, to submit a help ticket, tap or click the feedback button.  This feature will enable you to provide information to our support staff if you feel there is an issue with an itinerary or have a question.  Fill in the necessary information and click or tap submit.

screenshot option to provide feedback

Routes

Located on the Next Departures screen (or tab), the right-side pull-out menu labeled Routes provides information about specific routes, including the route map, stops, schedules, and next departure times. Vehicle locations are displayed on the route map for routes with available real-time information.

Select routes for a list of active routes that can be filtered by transit agency, service type, or search for a specific route.

screenshot drop down for trip options

Agency Selection
Select one or more routes to display the route path(s) and stops on the map.

screenshot to select routes

Schedule (based on the current time)

Selecting the vertical ellipsis will allow you to edit the date and time to view a different portion of the timetable.

screenshot edit date option

On the map, select any stop along a displayed route path to show the next departure times for that stop. Clicking or tapping the orange triangle will display an alert.

screenshot of map

Available vehicle location icons displayed on a selected route path are color-coded:

Red = late
Green = early
Blue = on time

Selecting a vehicle icon will display additional information specific to that vehicle.

screenshot time display

Alerts

Route alerts are available and can be viewed to see if it affects your trip.  Click or tap on alerts.  The resulting screen will show a list of service alerts.  Stop alerts are also available.  These alerts will also appear as orange triangles in trip plans and route information screens.

screenshot alert notification

Example service alert (expanded).