Google Maps has become even more useful for travellers and commuters in Great Britain. Users now have access to every public transportation route in England, Scotland and Wales – providing them with schedules, stations and stops for all buses, trains and ferries across the country.

All in all, Google Maps now covers 17,000 routes and 330,000 stations, stops and ferry ports. This means that users can tap into millions of departures each day from their desktop, iPhone or Android device. The data is drawn from 1,500 national and local operators through partnerships with National Express and Traveline.

“You can now get public transport directions for everything from cross-country trips, to timings for the local village bus, to the St Mawes ferry in Cornwall,” says David Tattarsall, a product manager with Google Maps.

In addition to viewing schedules, users choose from various transportation options to determine the most effective route according to their preferred method of travel.

This latest enhancement to Google Maps was not limited to the U.K. Google also added real-time updates on bus routes in Chicago and Vancouver.

Just last month, Google announced that visitors to Brazil for the World Cup in Brazil will have access to real-time public transportation in all 12 host cities. With nearly four million Brazilians and foreign tourists expected to converge on the games, public transportation will be in high demand across the country.

Google began providing information on public transportation schedules in late 2005 when it launched Google Transit Trip Planner.

Initially, Google only offered public transportation information for a single city – Portland in the United States. Today, Google Transit covers nearly 15,000 cities and towns in 64 different countries.

Surprisingly, today’s announcement did not include Northern Ireland. According to sources, Google is still in negotiations to obtain the necessary transit data and hopes to include Northern Ireland in the near future.