Introduction

• Welcome to the Metro Trip Planner. Metro is the transit utility of the City of Madison, Wisconsin and provides bus service to the Madison urbanized area.

Search Tips: Departure and Arrival location input

1. Type your departure location and your arrival location.

When entering a departure or arrival location, you can type in:
• An address plus a street name, e.g. "1440 Monroe", OR
• Two intersecting street names, e.g. "Washington and Ingersoll", or "Washington @ Ingersoll", OR
• A four-digit Metro bus stop ID number, e.g. "0100", OR
• A landmark, e.g. "Camp Randall Stadium" or "UW Hospital".
The trip planner will return bad results if you include directional prefixes or a street type suffix as part of the address or intersection, e.g. "EAST" Washington "AVE" or "W" Wilson "ST". If the street name can be interpreted in more than one way, e.g. Franklin "Street" versus Franklin "Avenue" or "East" Wilson versus "West" Wilson, a list of possible matches will be returned, so that you can choose the one you want and proceed. Numeric street names need to be spelled out ("First" or "Third", not "1" or "3")
You can type just the beginning digits of a Metro bus stop ID number, e.g. "91", and a list of bus stop ID numbers starting with these numbers will be returned, so that you can choose your match.
The landmarks in the Trip Planner are limited to those used by the Metro Customer Service Center. If the Trip Planner does not recognize a landmark name you type, and you would like to have it added, please send this request to the Customer Service Center or call them at 266-4466.
2. Or look up landmark names by category.

Searching landmark names by categories is useful if you do not know the exact street location of your departure or arrival locations. Search for landmark names by clicking Landmark by Category and choosing a category from the Landmark Categories list that appears.
You also can narrow the selection by typing the beginning of the landmark name in the Departure or Arrival location text box and selecting a landmark category.
Example: Type "UW" in the text box and select "MEDICAL" from the Landmark Categories menu. Once you have selected the location you want from the list, the text box will automatically be filled in with the correct landmark name.
It is also possible to select All Landmarks - please note that this option used without specifying the part of the landmark name may return a lengthy list of landmarks. So it's advisable to narrow your selection by specifying the beginning of the landmark name. 
Example: To find All Landmarks that begin with the letter "D", as in "Dane County", type "D" in the Starting Point/Origin or Destination text box and select All Landmarks from the Landmark Categories list. Your selection from the list will automatically fill in the text box with the correct landmark name.

Troubleshooting Tips: Departure and Arrival location errors

Error: No address match could be found
Input the nearest major intersection to the street address (e.g. "STATE @ HENRY" or "STATE and HENRY"). Leave off directional prefixes (e.g. "East,"E",etc) and street types suffixes like "Drive", "Boulevard", "Street", etc. This will allow the system to return a multiple match list, if available.
Error: No itineraries were found
0 solutions were found for the request
No bus service may be available within a defined distance of your departure or arrival location at the date and time you requested. Input alternate dates or times to see if service is available earlier or later. See help information on Trip Parameter Info to learn about these defined itinerary guidelines.
Error: If the trip plan returned is not for the specific address you typed for the departure or arrival location
Input the nearest major intersection to the street address (e.g. "STATE @ HENRY" or "STATE and HENRY")

Example:
Select any text you may have already entered into the text box and type over the highlighted text with the letter "M".
Click on the link Landmarks by Category and select the appropriate category "EDUCATION". A list will be returned of all landmarks in this category that start with the letter M. Select MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOL from the list. The text box will automatically be filled in with the correct landmark name.
If you are unsure of the category, please select All Landmarks.

Search Tips: Trip Details

• Change the date by highlighting today's date and typing your new date.
Example: 07-11-2002 to 07-14-2002.
• Or Choose a date from the calendar (within the next 14 days) on which you want to travel.

Metro provides different levels of service on different days, so the trip valid on a weekday may not be available on the weekend, on weekdays when University of Wisconsin classes are on recess, etc.
Please note: Bus schedule assignments cover approximately three month blocks, and rotate when drivers pick new work assignments. Schedule data may be limited to the current three month block, until just before the next three month block and the new driver assignments are loaded.
• Whether you want to arrive or depart at the time of day specified.
  Please note: The Trip Planner can only generate itineraries from the time at one end of the trip. If you have time limitations on both ends of your trip, please select the most important end (departure or arrival) and review the itineraries this generates.
• Change the time of day you want to travel by highlighting the current time and typing in your new time.
The Trip Planner will look for departures or arrivals within a defined time around your request. See help information on Trip Parameter Info to learn about these defined itinerary guidelines.
Please note: If you do not specify AM or PM for your time, the Trip Planner will default to AM. If you are travelling after midnight, please use the previous day's date and "XM" or "x" for the time (e.g. "12:15x" for a trip just after midnight). An error will occur if the trip is requested at "12:15a" on the date of travel.
You can pre-sort your trip itinerary by:
• Trip Time - to sort itineraries by the shortest trip from start to end.
• Number of transfers - to sort itineraries by the least number of transfers between buses.
• Walking Distance - to sort itineraries by the shortest walking distance to stops and/or for transfers.