Photo by Chris Rief
Until very recently, tens of thousands of transit users across the D.C. area turned to their smartphones to find out when the next Metrobus was due at the nearest stop, using an app called NextBus DC. Aside from the occasional phantom bus, the program worked pretty well.
That is, until, December 20, when both the paid and free versions of the NextBus app stopped displaying Metro’s realtime data and instead gave users the disappointing message of “Connection Problems.”
Metro says the disconnect stems from a dispute between NextBus, an Emeryville, Calif.-based company that collects live data streams from transit systems around the world, and the third-party developer that in 2009 turned that data into an iPhone application. Dan Stessel, a Metro spokesman, says the transit agency does not have any details about what led to NextBus’ divorce from the developer that created the apps, but that Metro has never overtly supported the programs.
The Washington Examiner reports that the app’s developer doesn’t know either why she was cut off:
Kelly Beener, co-founder of AppTight, which developed NextBus DC in Austin, Texas, said her company received no notice and hasn’t been able to get any answers as to why the data for its D.C. feed, but not its San Francisco feed, was cut off. Meanwhile, she said, riders are flooding her inbox with questions about what happened.
The NextBus feed for San Francisco has suffered in recent days from faulty data, though AppTight’s app for that region is still functional.
The NextBus DC app is no longer listed on Apple’s iTunes Store, where it was previously available as both as a free download and an ad-free version costing $2.99. In the mean time, Stessel says bus passengers eager to find out when the next one will arrive can resort to the old ways of finding the updated bus schedule: by calling the phone number listed on the signposts at Metrobus stops, or navigating to NextBus’ website. Both offer the same updated information, though neither is as convenient as a few taps on a smartphone.
