TTC trip planner makes inadvertent online debut

The Toronto Transit Commission offered the public a brief — albeit inadvertent — glimpse at a preliminary version of its long-awaited online trip planner for a few hours over the weekend.

The tool, located at tripplanner.ttc.ca, was accessible to the general public from Saturday evening until about 12:45 p.m. on Sunday. After that time, a TTC user name and password were required for access.

CBC News was able to briefly test the tool before the site was walled up by the TTC.

The planner asks users to enter a starting point and a destination address. It then provides detailed instructions on how to get from point A to point B in, ostensibly, the most efficient manner.

The planner also allows users to select how they would like to travel — by subway, streetcar, bus or all three.

The planner makes use of Google maps to direct users to their destinations.

There appears to be no trace of the early version of the tool on the TTC's site. Rather, a banner on the site reads: "Future home of Trip Planner."

TTC spokesman Brad Ross told CBC News that the leaked page was only "part of [the site], not the entire site. We have since put some security measures in."

The commission's staff was working on the site Saturday night and into Sunday, Ross said. The work they were doing required them to turn security features off — features that have since been reinstated, he said.

"The last thing we want to do" is introduce a tool that doesn't live up to expectations, Ross added, so staff will continue to work on it.

The planner, which has been in the works for years, is reportedly set to roll out in the coming days, but it is not clear when.

When asked, Ross chose not to put a date on the tool's debut, but said its launch is "imminent."