Google just rolled out new Maps features to help you avoid both crowds and delays to make traveling during the pandemic safer

• A handful of new Google Maps updates are rolling out, including a feature that will let you see when bus and train stations are busiest during the day.
• Google says it will also show you alerts about transport routes, such as service suspensions, which might affect your journey.
• Google will also offer up alerts if your driving route includes a COVID-19 checkpoint or other restriction.

Google has announced some new features for Maps to help you avoid crowds when traveling.

Google rolled out crowdedness predictions for Google Maps last year, letting users see how busy bus and train lines are throughout the day. Now, in response to COVID-19, the company is bulking up these features to better help travelers social distance.

With the new updates, rolling out over the next few weeks, you'll be able to see the times of day when a transit station is likely to be more or less busy. You'll also be able to view live data to get a sense of how crowded the train or bus station might be at that moment.

"Simply search for a station in Google Maps or tap on the station on the map to see the departure board and busyness data, where available," Ramesh Nagarajan, Google Maps' product management director, wrote in a blog post announcing the new features.

Transit alerts are rolling out to Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, France, India, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, Thailand, the UK, and the US.

To aid in improving this feature, Google has also made it easier to contribute your own experiences in the app so that there's more data to draw on.

All data is aggregated and anonymized data, says Google, and taken from users who have opted in to Google Location History.

As an additional feature, Google will also now show you information about any restrictions that might affect your route, such as suspensions to public transport services or safety requirements for travelers.

"When you look up public transit directions for a trip that is likely to be affected by COVID-19 restrictions, we'll show relevant alerts from local transit agencies," wrote Nagarajan.

Google said it will add these alerts "where we've received authoritative data from local, state and federal governments or from their websites."

Furthermore, if a driving route includes a COVID-19 checkpoint or restriction, such as when crossing a national border, you'll start seeing that in the app, too. This feature is rolling out to the US, Canada, and Mexico first, said Google, though it didn't indicate if this will be made more widely available.

Finally, if you're navigating to a medical facility or COVID-19 testing center, you'll see an alert reminding you to verify you're eligible, so that you don't get turned away.

Google also says the additional transport insights announced back in February, including information about temperature, accessibility, and designated women's areas, have now rolled out globally.