- Routes by Public Transport are Buggy on Google Maps
- It seems to affect some but not all users
- Google has not yet made any comment on the problem
Millions of us depend on Google Maps to get from A to B every day, so when something goes wrong with the app, it can cause a serious headache – as it seems to have happened to a new error affecting the search for public transit.
As noted by the Android Police, a long thread on Reddit documents the experience of many users watching the Google Maps app for Android crashes when searching for public transport instructions to a direction.
It is difficult to assess how widespread the problem is at the moment: Android police team was able to repeat the mistake of one of their phones, but that’s not a problem I look at my own Google Pixel 9 at the moment.
What is certain is that it is frustrating for the people who see it, leaving them unable to use Google Maps to plot a route to their destination. Yet Google has not said anything official about the problem or a potential solution.
What you can try
Without words from Google yet – and I will update this article if there is – users are really back waiting for a solution. It sounds like the problem has hit multiple Android phones, including those made by Google, Samsung and Poco.
From the Reddit thread, it seems it can help put Google Maps into incognito mode. You can do this by pressing your Google account -Avatar inside the app (top right) and then select Turn on for incognito mode from the menu.
This apparently solves the problem, even if your searches and are obviously not going to be stored in your Google account. It also suggests that the problem may be something to do with the way Google Maps synchronizes to accounts.
It may also be worth while checking some of the alternative public transport apps available on Android, such as CityMapper and Moovit. Of course, there are also Apple Maps, but this error doesn’t seem to affect Google Maps for iOS.
