Find more sustainable ways to get around, with new Maps and Search updates
When it comes to traveling and commuting, we want people to have the right information to make more sustainable choices. With new updates to features in Maps and Search, you can find convenient public transit and walking routes, see alternatives to air travel and better understand the estimated emissions of flights.
Find lower-carbon travel alternatives
In Maps, we’re launching a feature that shows public transit or walking suggestions next to driving routes, if travel times are comparable and practical. This will be available in the coming weeks in over fifteen cities around the world, including Amsterdam, Barcelona, London, Montreal, Paris, Rome and Sydney.1
We’re also expanding a feature in Search that helps you find information on long-distance train routes and adding support for buses as well. If you search for something like “Boston to Philadelphia train”, you can quickly see schedules and ticket prices right on the results page, along with links to complete your booking. This feature is now available for trains in 38 countries2 and long-distance bus routes in 15 countries.3
For some destinations, it may not be obvious when trains are a good alternative to flying. That’s why last year, we began rolling out train route suggestions when you look for flights on Search. In the coming months, you’ll also see these train route suggestions when you’re using Google Flights, so it’s easy to find the more sustainable option no matter where you begin your search.
Better understand emissions from flights
Sometimes, flying really is the only practical way to get from A to B, but the environmental impact of your trip can vary quite a bit based on which flight you choose. With Google Flights, you can already see estimated emissions for nearly every flight in the search results and filter by lower-emitting options.
These estimates are powered by the Travel Impact Model (TIM), a methodology we published in 2022 for predicting per-passenger flight emissions. To make this information even more accessible, TIM estimates are now also available through a developer API that allows any app or website to display flight emissions, as well as a Google Sheets add-on and a calculator on the TIM website.
While there’s still a long road ahead when it comes to sustainable travel, today’s updates will give more people the information they need to choose lower-carbon alternatives.
