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WMATA's NextBus tool has been officially back up and running for just a little over a month now, and last week the developers at NextBus launched their own iPhone application (now $2.99 from the iTunes store). For iPhone users, the application is well worth the purchase price, thanks to enhanced GPS and mapping features.
What the NextBus DC app does:
- Allows you to store a list of your favorite stops, in addition to automatically adding those stops to a list favorite bus routes, with ease. Bus stop results show predictions for every bus line that serves that stop.
- "Nearby Stops" function gives you the bus stops closest to where you are physically, thanks to GPS functionality.
- A mapping function can then show you where you are on the map in relation to the bus stop you are trying to find. You can also view a full map of the selected bus route, with each stop highlighted.
- Provides easy to search real time bus arrival data for D.C. Metro, Prince George's County and the Fairfax CUE bus systems.
What the NextBus DC app doesn't do:
- You can't simply type in the bus stop number to find your stop information -- instead you need to search either by bus line or by the "Nearby Stops" function. It would be nice to be able to use the stop numbers like you do on the browser-based mobile tool, although considering WMATA posted so many of the stop numbers at the wrong stops, maybe it's not such a tragedy.
- There's no improvement over the quality of the data. We're still getting "no prediction for this bus line" results roughly once out of every four or five times we search NextBus, a problem WMATA has previously told us is likely due to bus driver error - they forget to turn on the NextBus device inside the bus.
- It doesn't work like a trip planner. You can't enter an address or destination and find out the best route to take, though consulting the route maps for the buses that serve the stops nearest you should help make up for that.
DCist has been testing the NextBus DC iPhone app for the last five days, and for the most part it's given us great results. Except for the instances when the NextBus data just doesn't work, the iPhone app has allowed us to make quick decisions about whether to wait for one bus or walk to a different stop and try another, and we're impressed with how useful the application is for both regular bus riders and those who don't know the bus system that well. By being able search for nearby stops in unfamiliar neighborhoods, bus riders no longer have to guess whether there's a bus that'll get them from here to there.
The application was originally listed at $4.99 for the first day or two, but the price dropped down to $2.99 pretty quickly, and no matter how often you ride Metrobus, it's definitely worth downloading at that price.
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Why no DASH bus coverage? And what about Montgomery County's busses? Are they on a different network or what?
Montgomery County probably doesn't want to let you know the depressing news that your next Ride On bus will be arriving in 45 minutes.
Since the app is produced by the NextBus people and uses NextBus functionality, it will only cover bus systems that use NextBus.
also helpful (and not well advertised)
http://www.wmata.com/mobile/
includes:
1 Plan a Trip
2 Next Scheduled Departure
3 Next Train
4 Next Bus
5 Elevator/Escalator Outages
6 Disruptions - 2 Rail
7 System Map
I don't have the problems that others have reported. I'm not sure why that is, but I hope it continues.
As for the "Trip Planner" feature: I imagine the problem here is that the app is developed by NextBus. My assumption is that the data used for the Trip Planner feature on the WMATA website is not available to the developers at NextBus.
does nextbus provide an api? is anything available for android?
Someone from NextBus posted this in the comments section over at Greater Greater Washington
"As far as supporting non-iPhones, we plan on releasing a NextBus DC for BlackBerry on the App World in the next few weeks. It isn't quite as flush with features as the iPhone version, in large part because of the lack of platform tools on the BlackBerry...."
This app would be super useful, if only WMATA could get their dumb-as-a-rock bus drivers to turn the damn NextBus devices on when the buses are in service, and off when they aren't.
This entire article, and the commentariat, is extremely amusing to those of us who don't take the bus. Just another validation of living near where you work!
I can pretty much walk everywhere too, but that doesn't mean that I don't sometimes go outside my rather large walking radius where the bus comes in handy (or if it is rainy or really hot outside or I'm feeling lazy). When I do, having these tools makes just a little bit more pleasant.
speak for yourself...i live 4 blocks away from where i work in foggy bottom. i take the bus all the time...to go to the movies, shopping, going out on the town, etc.
anyway, back to the app. i downloaded this per dcist recommendation and i still have some questions about it. for example, when you go into a specific route, and all the stops are listed, one is highlighted yellow. why? am i missing something obvious?
I should have mentioned this, because it's a feature, not a bug! The one that's highlighted yellow on the route stop list is generally the bus stop that's closest to where you currently are.
thanks!!
Lots of great comments and I'll try to answer some of the questions. So nevermindtheend is correct, at present the app only provides information for transit agencies that have implemented NextBus.
In response to foobar, Android has been prioritized by market share (so, unfortunately, below BB, iPhone, and WinMo), but if you are interested in working on such an app we do have an API and always welcome interested developers - please contact feedback@nextbusdc.com for more info.
Great discussion - thanks for the review DCist !
alexorloff: it's great to see that nextbus finds it worthwhile to get down in the trenches and talk to its customers! if only wmata cared half as much as you guys about making the experience better, safer, and more convenient for all of us.
Yes, thank you for the feedback.
it would be nice for the circulator to be a part of this app..although i do realize they have a web based app (which is not as useful as an app you can install on your phone) it would be nice to have it all consolidated on the one app.
Excited to try it on my iPhone! Though my bookmarked web link "app" that goes straight to the arrival info for my favorite bus stop has worked pretty well. That's what I do for Metrorail, also, one tap and I see next train arrival times for my top two stations. But I will definitely get this to use at other bus stops.
It would be great if NextBus integrated train arrival time with this app, as well. And don't forget the Palm Pre Web OS! (But in the meantime, I'll have another way my iPhone is better than my friends' Pres :-)
I want an iPhone app that tells me where Peter Nickles is at all times.