iPhone app review: iTransitBuddy

Transit

by Michael Perkins • June 9, 2009 9:00 am

After Metro released its schedule data in Google Transit Feed Specification format, I wanted an iPod/iPhone app that would let me find out quickly how long it would be until the next bus or train. There are a lot of transit apps out there, but not many have bus data or offline caching mode. I downloaded two apps, iTransitBuddy and UniBus (subject of a future review this week).

The bottom line: iTransitBuddy downloads, searches and displays Metrorail and Metrobus schedules. The app has some interface issues, and Metro's data contains some problems. On the other hand, the "favorites" feature might make this 99¢ purchase worth it. I'd give it 2.5 out of a 5-point scale, with one lost point being Metro's fault for issues with the schedule data.

For iTransitBuddy, you start by selecting a line, origin and destination.

The stops are listed in alphabetical order by the name that Metro assigned, rather than in order along the line. I found this to be confusing because it's not always clear what Metro decided to name each stop. Is it "8th Street at Pennsylvania"? No, it's "Se 8Th St Se D St". It seems unnecessary to choose your destination, because most of the time you don't need to know how long the bus will take to get where you're going, just when the next bus is. Because of the size of the database, searches for the stops on a line take a long time, a step that is required twice because you need to pick origin and destination. The app should be allowed to just show you the next scheduled arrivals at your stop in both directions.

The app only allows you to search for one route at a time, so if there are two or three different possible routes to your destination (like the 90s, Pike Ride, the 30s or even the Metrorail Blue/Orange lines) you must search individually for them to figure out which one is coming first. iTransitBuddy lets you store "Favorites", which allow you to quickly access an line/origin/destination search. On my iPod Touch (2nd Gen), a search for Metrorail trips from East Falls Church to Eastern Market takes about 11 seconds, and a search for Ballston to East Falls Church takes about the same amount of time. A search for a short bus ride along the 90s line takes about 8 seconds. I don't know whether the iPod first generation or the iPhone have faster or slower access times. The newly announced iPhone 3rd Generation should be a little faster.

The app displays an unreasonable amount of data, showing arrivals that happen up to 24 hours in the future. This might be so that you can look for trips that happen much later in the day, but I think the interface could be improved to allow later searches, while allowing a "next bus" lookup that happens a lot faster.

Metro's data appears to be out of date and has some quality issues. The N22 line is still listed, even though the line stopped service in March. The new Woodley Park/McPherson Sq and Union Station/Navy Yard Circulator routes are not listed, and the three older Circulator routes are jumbled together in one big collection that lists every stop. The Mall, 7th Street and K Street lines are all listed under "DC Circulator" in the same list. There seems to be some sort of issue where every trip shows up twice (sometimes with an offset of a couple minutes) in the list of trips for some Metrorail lines.

These issues are unfortunate considering one of the reasons Metro didn't participate in Google Transit was a concern about Google guaranteeing the information would be accurate and up-to-date. I think that it's more likely that Metro was unable to produce GTFS data of sufficient quality for Google's needs, and Metro was forced to punt, publishing the data with a broad disclaimer. I'm going to speculate that the schedule data in Metro's databases works well enough for Metro, but when they try to use automated processes to extract the data, there must be problems with the export.

iTransitBuddy makes Metro's scheduling data available, and with the "favorites" feature you can have your favorite bus stop and line data at your fingertips, though you will have to wait a long time to get a too many results. The interface could use some improvements.

With a few tweaks, like listing bus stops geographically, having a "settings" feature to limit search results to at most a couple hours in the future, and being able to combine bus routes or find all bus routes for a stop, iTransitBuddy could be what you're looking for in a GTFS-searching iPhone or iPod app. There are some interface and data quality problems. On the other hand, it's a bargain at only $0.99 (for a limited time).

11 comments — Share	— tags: GTFS, technology, WMATA

DC on a roll with Circulator iPhone app (Oct 1, 2009)
Metro responds to Google Transit posts (Aug 6, 2009)
NextBus DC iPhone app review (Jul 31, 2009)
Another transit app: UniBus for iPhone/iPod (Jun 11, 2009)
Could a "12 Minute" bus map increase bus ridership? (Apr 22, 2009)

Comments

I downloaded this app and have since deleted it. I found that bookmarking WMATA's bus schedules on their website are more convenient, faster, and easier to navigate than this app. I also really hated how it would often not recognize that I touched the screen.

I found the amount of data displayed to be too much to access conveniently. It's just easier and faster to go to WMATA's site and look at the PDF's.

by Cavan on Jun 9, 2009 9:15 am

I don't have an iphone, I don't want one, I have no plans of acquiring one. I just want the schedules to be listed on the website and at the stop and for the busses and trains to be on-time and have reasonable headways. I don't want fancy technology. I just want to walk to the bus stop with a good idea of what to expect and have those expectations met.

It would be great if bus drivers had the freedom to de-bunch themselves when they see it is happening. THAT would lead to greatly improved service and better on-time schedule keeping and doesn't involve igadgets of any kind.

by Bianchi on Jun 9, 2009 9:51 am

@Bianchi, when i was riding the X2 line regularly, the drivers would do skip-stop service when they were bunched. A crowded bus would roll by a stop without stopping if no one wanted off, or refuse to take on passengers if one did, allowing the empty bus(es) behind him to take on the usually large number of waiting passengers. This indicates that the drivers have some ability to reduce clumping, if they so desire, and all the buses stop at the same stops along a line, which is not the case with, say the 52/53/54 or the 70s.

by dcseain on Jun 9, 2009 12:29 pm

Anyone know if a similar app is or will be available for Blackberries? WMATA's train arrival info directly from their mobile site is pretty good, but buses would be nice too.

by Steve on Jun 9, 2009 12:48 pm

dcseain, apparently they (bus drivers) aren't supposed to do that (de-bunch) without directions from headquarters to do so. So if they had the freedom to initiate de-bunching before it was obvious to some third party removed from the actual activity that bunching was occurring, then bunching would be less of a problem and service would improve. I asked (some higher-up from metro who's title and name I don't remember) not too long ago why the drivers don't just de-bunch themselves and I was told they are not allowed to initiate that (skip stops/not pick up) without orders. that's the problem. the drivers are the ones who see when its needed immediately-they should be free to act on their judgement.

by Bianchi on Jun 9, 2009 12:50 pm

WMATA bus operators are prohibited (with fairly severe discipline) from running ahead of schedule. For a variety of reasons, the first bus begins running late-picking up more and more people and getting later and later. The second bus catches up to the first, but can't pass because the operator doesn't want to get ahead of schedule. Eventually this bus also becomes late and the third bus begans to catch up--sometimes running several minutes early (in violation of WMATA rules) just because the two buses in front of them are picking up all the people. That's why you'll see bus operators "dragging" the line or even stopping all together (prohibited but a lesser penalty than running ahead of schedule) to kill time.

Once this has happened, it is difficult for operators to "catch up" on their own because they have passengers on the bus and have no authority to skip stops (not letting people off) or pass up people at stops.

Sometimes operators take a chance by violating the rules and helping each other. That's what you see when one bus skips a stop so the one in front or behind can serve it. It is a WMATA violation, but operators sometimes take chances to "help" their co-workers to recover some of their late time. This is risky for the operator "helping" because they risk getting ahead of schedule or receiving other rule violation charges if caught by a supervisor or reported by passengers.

GPS technology and a good communication system with a central controller could help. WMATA has sent supervisors from depot duties to the streets to help on major lines.

Where you have more frequent service, you can switch to a "headway" based system like DC circulator instead of the current "schedule" based system like WMATA runs. In the headway based system, supervisors hold buses at the end of the line to insure "headways" and take others out of service and "deadhead" them to a distant point on the line to maintain "headways."

by kreeggo on Jun 9, 2009 1:49 pm

kreeggo, I've also experienced bus skipping on Georgia Avenue between Silver Spring and Wheaton on the Y/Q2 bus lines. Now I understand whey I don't see it more often.

by Cavan on Jun 9, 2009 1:59 pm

kreego, thanks for explaining this. It seems the "headway" system is far better for service, if the headway isn't too long that is.

by Bianchi on Jun 9, 2009 2:17 pm

There are pluses and minuses to both systems. Just my opinion but I think in outlying areas where headways are pretty wide or early morning/late evening, a schedule enables you to know when to go to the bus stop (I always advise 5 minutes early) and you can be reasonable sure the bus won't have already gone by. Where you have fairly short routes and frequent service (10 minutes or less--DC Circulator model), I think the "headway" system works.

Because they are running two different models is why "Next Bus" (schedule based) won't work for DC Circulator. It doesn't mean you can't incorporate aspects of the "headway" system into the "schedule" system and I think WMATA has made some steps doing this but needs to be more aggressive--focusing first on lines where they are running Metro Extra Service (reliability is critical to this type of service success).

by Kreeggo on Jun 9, 2009 3:42 pm

Might want to put a disclaimer up there stating that this app wont work while your in the metro since it has to download the info and att doesnt work there.

by KK on Jun 9, 2009 4:02 pm

@ok actually the app has an offline mode which stores the data and allows access even without a connection. All those screenshots were taken on an airplane, so no connection (note lack of wifi symbol in upper left).

by Michael Perkins on Jun 9, 2009 5:03 pm