Many small agencies have no ESRI ArcMap shape files. As a small agency they have limited staff and ability to fund GIS projects for building "shape files." What options might they have to display their few routes on the highways or mainline roads they travel?

I've begun to notice that with "my maps" offering the ease of creating a line made me wonder if we might capture a driving directions, on the highway or route, saved as a "my maps" data capture, and call that "the transit bus route display". If the capture were not the 'driving directions' but a good approximation of a line on a road, that would work fine, too. This would show the bus on the highway they travel on without painstakingly building shape files. Then the Google Magic begins: convert that "my maps" line into the automagical shape file tables, now optional in the current spec. WOW, the customer won't see the 'straight shot' lines that might be confusing. Looking forward to more of your Google/transit=magic.