At that time, it only included major metropolitan areas, Glenn said. After positive reviews in the larger markets, Google began extending the service to other urban areas, he said.

As CART became aware of Google Transit in late 2007, CART staff decided it would be a good resource for Norman and began consulting those at Google as to how to participate, Glenn said.

Google agreed to feature CART on Google Transit in March of this year, sending CART staff the specifications of how to upload its transit system into Google Maps. CART staff then plotted the GPS coordinates of all bus stops in Norman and recorded the times of the stops in addition to its days and hours of operation. With that information sent to Google, the CART system could then interface with Google Maps.

Glenn said he's received several e-mails and phone calls since the launch of CART's redesigned Web site explaining how much of an asset Google Transit is to those who wish to use CART.

"Additionally, many of those people calling and e-mailing tell me before they experienced Google Transit, they had no idea it was so convenient and user friendly to ride the bus," Glenn said in an e-mail.

Last week when Aguilar found out about CART's partnership with Google Transit, she sent out an e-mail to all the workers in her building telling them about the new feature. With gas prices nearing $4, she said it's worth it to use public transportation.

"I encourage people to use the CART for environmental and financial reasons," she said.

Julianna Parker 366-3541 jparker@normantranscript.com