4 Apps That Are Saving Your Commute
MTA buses and trains are never consistent and these apps aim to help you work around that.
For New Yorkers in today’s social climate, there are quite a few things that divide us. However, I do know for sure that there is at least one sentiment that we all share:
A frustration with the workings, or lack thereof, of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA).
Although the average person’s involvement in this argument seems limited to who we elect into office along with the committees and organizations we take part in, there are several companies that are leveraging available technology to try and make our commutes a little less stressful.
When the MTA struggles to meet expectations, their riders abandon hope and have been moving towards services like Uber and Lyft.
Even with a growing population and millions of visitors traveling through New York City, the MTA has managed to experience a loss of ridership from 6.0 million in 2015 to 5.6 million a day in 2018.
Ride hailing services are not cheap, and thus the following apps strive to give riders the most bang for the $2.75 spent.
1. Moovit — Your Public Transit Guide
For those who are less familiar with the MTA system, or just don’t have the brainpower at the end of the day to deal with it, Moovit is a great option.
The Moovit features that stand out most to me are its abilities to help you pick the best route, tell you where to get on, and notify you when its time to get off.
No more guessing whether this is your stop when Moovit’s got your back.
Overall the app has a lot of functionality to connect you with news from your local transit authorities, while maintaining a relatively easy-to-use interface.
Available on: Web, Android Google Play, and iOS App Store
2. Citymapper — From A to B, by Any Means Necessary
For an app that does more than just finding out what bus or train you should take, look to Citymapper.
I think the feature that provides the most value to the rider is their “Get Me Somewhere” service. Similar to how Google Maps gives options for walking and bicycle riding, Citymapper lays out all these choices while connecting you with a variety of ways to reach your destination. For instance:
Don’t have a bike? Here are some places where you can rent one along your route. Don’t have friends to car pool with? Citymapper’s Smart Ride service keeps mobility shared and affordable.
As a bonus, Citymapper shows riders how many calories they’ve burned, how many trees they’ve saved, and how much money they’ve saved by using public transportation.
Available on: Web, Android Google Play and iOS App Store
3. Transit — Bus & Subway Times, Clean and Simple
I’ve personally found that while the Transit app doesn’t necessarily compete with the fancy features of the previous apps, it provides the cleanest interface.
When the MTA has given you a headache, your transit app shouldn’t add to that with lots of bells and whistles.
For that reason, Transit utilizes the familiar colors of the MTA, with status updates that provide just the essential information to riders.
Transit presents the most crucial information in the home screen, using your current location to find nearby public transportation lines and predict where you might be headed.
Overall, Transit has a great aesthetic and is a straightforward answer to many complicated problems.
Available on: Android Google Play and iOS App Store
4. Rotten Apples — Tracking and Rating the MTA
Now, while all the previous options have been focused on helping riders find the best route to take in the moment, this may not be useful for the seasoned NYC commuter.
When you’ve traveled to your job or school for months and years, you don’t need an app to tell you how to get there.
Wait it out at the Q38 or walk along the Q23 to catch a ride to Queens Center and transfer to the Q88.
This is your daily route, and it may be the only sensible option. In cases like this, a traditional navigation app is just redundant. Instead, you may need one that focuses solely on telling you how rough or easy of a ride you’re in for to have today.
In comes Rotten Apples, a new app built by us that provides real time bus tracking so that you can plan out exactly when to leave your house.
That’s not all, Rotten Apples’ greatest functionality comes from its ability to show bus line ratings, based on how on-time or late the bus has been today.
This way, when you wake up in the morning, you can get a snapshot an hour before you leave that tells you just how your bus and the MTA has been performing this morning.
The daily commuter needs to know how reliable their bus is going to be after they’ve had their cereal and shower. Rotten Apples aims to paint that picture for them in real time.
The app is on the iOS App Store and tracks only MTA buses for now. We aim to put subways to the test next along along with an app for all of you Android commuters.
Available on: iOS App Store
