Apologies to BikePortland.org for lifting this article (that's twice in one week for content but...)

BIG NEWS for those of you who like to plan your non-auto trip.  TriMet will launch its multi-modal trip planner in a few short weeks.  That means you can plan your bike/bus trip or your bike trip or your transit trip or your walking trip all in one place!

In the past if you wanted to plan a trip where you rode your bike to catch the bus you had to use more than one on-line trip planning tool.  No longer.  TriMet's tool not only allows you to change which mode of transportation you want to use or combine, but gives you great flexibility in what type of trip you take.

The new trip planning tool allows you to plan your trip based on elevation gain, time of travel, and safety.  Coolest of all, you can make your own mix!  Say you really don't want to bike up a hill but want a fast trip, you can choose a mix of speed and elevation.  The trip that is planned for you might take bike lanes on higher volume streets, but will keep you off that big hill!

Enough talk (type) about this tool.  Go play with the test version >>> http://maps5.trimet.org/opentripplanner-webapp/