“Google Transit is a feature of Google Maps to help you plan your trip on public transport, on buses, subways, trams, light rail and trains,” the firm explained in a statement on Wednesday.

The service has been launched in cooperation with Samtrafiken, which maintains timetables and public transport information across Sweden.

Google Transit will enable users to select a public transport option as an alternative to a road description in order to map their routes from A to B.

The Google Transit tool was first launched in 2005 and has been launched in Sweden in response to the fact that many Swedes make use of Google Maps to plan their journeys.

The firm however faces stiff competition from eniro.se and hitta.se among others and the move is naturally also an attempt to increase market share, traffic and thus advertising revenues.

Google however underlined its environmental credentials in its statement and furthermore explained that there is a more altruistic motivation to the launch of the service in Sweden.

“Transit is a green initiative for Sweden and we hope that many Swedes, and of course tourists, will now choose public transport when the opportunity is given.”

Google Transit is available to users of a broad range of mobile devices, including Android and its webpage is adapted for use on the iPhone.