TheBus riders wanting to know how to get from point A to point B are getting some help starting today from Google.

The Internet search site launched a new service today for Honolulu called Google Transit, which is available at www.google.com/transit. The site allows people to plan trips using only Honolulu's public transportation system.

It's hoped the free trip planner will make Honolulu's complex transit system easier to decipher and use for residents as well as tourists. The Web site for TheBus at www.the bus.org has a schedule for buses, but no trip planner.

"I think there's a latent demand out there for information about transit," said Roger Morton, general manager for TheBus. "This will help us capture that latent demand.

"We've had this on our wish list to do, but it's a half a million dollar effort to buy this commercially."

Instead, Google Transit cost Honolulu nothing. Planning for the new service started about 18 months ago when TheBus approached Mountain View, Calif.-based Google.

Avichal Garg, a product manager for Google, said the service is a natural extension of the company's popular map service. Google Transit is offered as a complimentary service for Google users.

As it stands, public transit information "is hard to find. It's just painful even when there is some sort of online solution," Garg said.

By entering a starting point and a destination bus riders can get detailed directions about where and when to catch TheBus, along with cost and estimated travel time. For example, a trip from Kalihi and North King streets to South King and McCully streets would take 30 minutes and cost $2, according to Google Transit.

For comparison purposes, the site also uses federal cost estimates to calculate the cost of driving the same route at $1.92.

"It quickly makes very concrete the benefits of public transportation for the user," Garg said.

Google Transit is still part of Google Labs, which is the company's "technology playground." Ultimately Google plans to roll out the service worldwide.

Google is launching Google Transit in five cities today including: Seattle; Eugene, Ore.; Pittsburgh; and Tampa, Fla. The service already is available in Portland, Ore.

Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com.