Apple Maps Real-Time Transit Information Now Available in Tokyo

[MacRumors]

Real-time transit information in Apple Maps has been expanded to Tokyo, Japan, enabling users to get live details of more than 20 railway, bus, and tram lines throughout the metropolitan area, Apple has announced.

With real-time updates on Apple Maps, users in Tokyo can view detailed schedules, real-time departure and arrival times, and transfers to help plan their journeys. Apple adds that important real-time transit information such as service suspensions and delays will also be provided.

Apple says the transit information in its Maps app covers services provided by JR East, Tokyo Metro, and other agencies through the ODPT (Open Data Public Transportation Council).

No update is required to get the real-time transit data. Additionally, with the release of iOS 18 this fall, users across Japan will also be able to explore detailed topographic maps on their iPhones, complete with contour lines, shaded relief, and hiking trails.

Article Link: Apple Maps Real-Time Transit Information Now Available in Tokyo

 

[Makosuke]

This is good news, to be sure--Apple Maps transit directions in Tokyo were good, but certainly have room for improvement. And nearly a quarter of the country's population lives in Tokyo, so if you're going to start somewhere to roll it out, Tokyo is it.

...but I really wish they'd improve transit schedules past the trains in moderately more rural areas. The lack of bus schedules really hamstrings the usefulness for anywhere not directly next to a train line.

Example: Google Maps will tell me exactly which local bus (or busses) in Yamanashi to ride to get from the southern part of the valley to the central part. There are several local and regional bus lines that serve that area, and it's entirely practical to get around on them.

But if I do the same search in Apple Maps, it only has trains and the highway bus to Tokyo, so I get a worse-than-useless suggestion to ride a long-haul bus for two hours into another prefecture, transfer to a different long-haul bus, and ride that all the way back. Just saying there's no route would be better, or suggest I take the train then walk for an hour, which is more realistic, cheaper, and three times as fast.

Yes, Yamanashi is relatively rural, but it's still got a population of 800K, gets a decent amount of tourist traffic thanks to Mt. Fuji, and there aren't that many local busses you'd have to add the schedules of to make Apple Maps useful. If Google can manage, surely Apple could spare however many hours of labor it would take to get better bus route coverage.

 

[3304614]

This is good news, to be sure--Apple Maps transit directions in Tokyo were good, but certainly have room for improvement. And nearly a quarter of the country's population lives in Tokyo, so if you're going to start somewhere to roll it out, Tokyo is it.

...but I really wish they'd improve transit schedules past the trains in moderately more rural areas. The lack of bus schedules really hamstrings the usefulness for anywhere not directly next to a train line.

Example: Google Maps will tell me exactly which local bus (or busses) in Yamanashi to ride to get from the southern part of the valley to the central part. There are several local and regional bus lines that serve that area, and it's entirely practical to get around on them.

But if I do the same search in Apple Maps, it only has trains and the highway bus to Tokyo, so I get a worse-than-useless suggestion to ride a long-haul bus for two hours into another prefecture, transfer to a different long-haul bus, and ride that all the way back. Just saying there's no route would be better, or suggest I take the train then walk for an hour, which is more realistic, cheaper, and three times as fast.

Yes, Yamanashi is relatively rural, but it's still got a population of 800K, gets a decent amount of tourist traffic thanks to Mt. Fuji, and there aren't that many local busses you'd have to add the schedules of to make Apple Maps useful. If Google can manage, surely Apple could spare however many hours of labor it would take to get better bus route coverage.

Yamanashi public transit and modern technology? Blame Fuji Kyuko for that one. It was only a few years ago that they finally put in some Suica terminals at the stations (many, many, many years after basically all of Japan was already using Suica/Pasmo/etc).

I can’t remember exactly when, but I can probably track down old Line messages where I said something like “Guys! You’ll never believe it! They actually put in a Suica terminal!!! We’re like a real city now!” 😂

 

[dredlew]

This is good news, to be sure--Apple Maps transit directions in Tokyo were good, but certainly have room for improvement. And nearly a quarter of the country's population lives in Tokyo, so if you're going to start somewhere to roll it out, Tokyo is it.

...but I really wish they'd improve transit schedules past the trains in moderately more rural areas. The lack of bus schedules really hamstrings the usefulness for anywhere not directly next to a train line.

Example: Google Maps will tell me exactly which local bus (or busses) in Yamanashi to ride to get from the southern part of the valley to the central part. There are several local and regional bus lines that serve that area, and it's entirely practical to get around on them.

But if I do the same search in Apple Maps, it only has trains and the highway bus to Tokyo, so I get a worse-than-useless suggestion to ride a long-haul bus for two hours into another prefecture, transfer to a different long-haul bus, and ride that all the way back. Just saying there's no route would be better, or suggest I take the train then walk for an hour, which is more realistic, cheaper, and three times as fast.

Yes, Yamanashi is relatively rural, but it's still got a population of 800K, gets a decent amount of tourist traffic thanks to Mt. Fuji, and there aren't that many local busses you'd have to add the schedules of to make Apple Maps useful. If Google can manage, surely Apple could spare however many hours of labor it would take to get better bus route coverage.

Not what I have experienced and I have traveled all over Japan (30 of 47 prefectures so far). I have generally found that Apple Maps has gotten much better than Google Maps in terms of bus connections. I guess it depends on the area but overall, I have gotten more and better results with Apple Maps.

What I wish they would change however is that Apple Maps only tends to show you the most convenient option, which may not be the most efficient or it may not show at all sometimes even though there would be a connection with some more transfers, waiting & walking.

Google maps will oftentimes display more different types of connections which can be helpful depending on your plans.

For train connections itself, I find the JapanTransit app to be the best, with the most options and accuracy. It does buses too but it’s not always as good as the other two.

So I end up using all three depending on the area and situation. Generally, Apple Maps is my first choice. If I want to see different or more efficient options, I check JapanTransit. If both these apps don’t offer what I need, I check Google Maps and see if they have something.

For just walking directions in Japan, Apple Maps is hands down the best option. Google Maps is a confusing mess in that regard.

 

[peneaux]

Nice to see improvements in Apple Maps. If there was no competition, you bet Google Maps would be filled with ads!

 

[thewhitehart]

Great. It's come a long way here since 2012, when it used to tell me my train station was a Kentucky Fried Chicken. I prefer its interface over that of Google Maps. I wish there was better support though for properly locating my residence on the map when the address is written in English in Contacts. It has something to do with the way addresses are formatted to match the region the phone is set to. I'm sure if I had my region set to Japan and the address in Japanese it would work, but I need the region set to the US. Writing the address in Japanese with the region set to the US also does not properly locate my residence.

 

[dbwie]

Real time transit updates were incredibly helpful when I was at the Olympics in Paris. I did not need a metro map to get around, the transit directions were that good.

 

[Apple2501]

Just in time

 

[svish]

Good to know. Waiting for it to be available in other regions also.

 

[Makosuke]

Yamanashi public transit and modern technology? Blame Fuji Kyuko for that one. It was only a few years ago that they finally put in some Suica terminals at the stations (many, many, many years after basically all of Japan was already using Suica/Pasmo/etc).

I can’t remember exactly when, but I can probably track down old Line messages where I said something like “Guys! You’ll never believe it! They actually put in a Suica terminal!!! We’re like a real city now!” 😂

Painfully true about modern technology, although that has nothing to do with whether Apple spends whatever modest amount of labor is involved in adding bus schedules to Maps--that's 100% Apple, not the primitive Yamanashi transit system.

Although, to be fair, the "does anybody actually ride these things?" local busses in the southern part of the valley started taking Suica a few years ago, which both surprised and impressed me. Heck, even the shuttle bus between Kajikazawa Hospital and Kyonan Hospital has a Suica terminal, which was downright shocking.

On the other hand, you still need cash to ride then dang Minobu line, which is an absolute embarrassment. That one annoys me more than most because as someone who likes to wander around randomly when I'm there, I sometimes don't know what stop I want to get off at, I'm just looking for a landmark I spotted out the window in the past. That actually works on a one-man train, but no-go for the bigger trains.

Not what I have experienced and I have traveled all over Japan (30 of 47 prefectures so far). I have generally found that Apple Maps has gotten much better than Google Maps in terms of bus connections. I guess it depends on the area but overall, I have gotten more and better results with Apple Maps.

[...]

For just walking directions in Japan, Apple Maps is hands down the best option. Google Maps is a confusing mess in that regard.

I admittedly spend most of my time in Yamanashi, so my opinion of Apple Maps is heavily influenced by that area and its terrible local bus coverage.

But you're SO right about walking directions, and in some cases it goes beyond "confusing mess"--I wanted to hike up to a temple on a small mountain. Apple Maps showed me how to get there via a nice walking trail, then offered the small road on the other side as an alternate path down. Google maps literally doesn't even show either of those, so not only will it not tell you you there's a hiking path, it tells you you can't get there, period.

On the other hand, Apple Maps had a goofy error on the walking trail to the (fairly well-known) cherry blossom park Ooboshi-yama; it shows the walking path (including marked stairs, which is nice), and even the sidewalks, but they somehow failed to connect the road to the walking path, so if you ask for walking directions starting anywhere on the wrong side of that invisible wall it will never, ever suggest the most obvious and easiest path.

I actually reported that to Apple a few months ago, but they still haven't fixed it. There's also a phantom pedestrian bridge shown on the map in that area that does not, in reality, exist, and never has.

Apple is pretty good about fixing bad business locations or info reports on Maps, but they are terrible at dealing with reports of bad directions or outdated roads, and that's not limited to Japan.

 

[3304614]

Painfully true about modern technology, although that has nothing to do with whether Apple spends whatever modest amount of labor is involved in adding bus schedules to Maps--that's 100% Apple, not the primitive Yamanashi transit system.

Although, to be fair, the "does anybody actually ride these things?" local busses in the southern part of the valley started taking Suica a few years ago, which both surprised and impressed me. Heck, even the shuttle bus between Kajikazawa Hospital and Kyonan Hospital has a Suica terminal, which was downright shocking.

On the other hand, you still need cash to ride then dang Minobu line, which is an absolute embarrassment. That one annoys me more than most because as someone who likes to wander around randomly when I'm there, I sometimes don't know what stop I want to get off at, I'm just looking for a landmark I spotted out the window in the past. That actually works on a one-man train, but no-go for the bigger trains.


I admittedly spend most of my time in Yamanashi, so my opinion of Apple Maps is heavily influenced by that area and its terrible local bus coverage.

But you're SO right about walking directions, and in some cases it goes beyond "confusing mess"--I wanted to hike up to a temple on a small mountain. Apple Maps showed me how to get there via a nice walking trail, then offered the small road on the other side as an alternate path down. Google maps literally doesn't even show either of those, so not only will it not tell you you there's a hiking path, it tells you you can't get there, period.

On the other hand, Apple Maps had a goofy error on the walking trail to the (fairly well-known) cherry blossom park Ooboshi-yama; it shows the walking path (including marked stairs, which is nice), and even the sidewalks, but they somehow failed to connect the road to the walking path, so if you ask for walking directions starting anywhere on the wrong side of that invisible wall it will never, ever suggest the most obvious and easiest path.

I actually reported that to Apple a few months ago, but they still haven't fixed it. There's also a phantom pedestrian bridge shown on the map in that area that does not, in reality, exist, and never has.

Apple is pretty good about fixing bad business locations or info reports on Maps, but they are terrible at dealing with reports of bad directions or outdated roads, and that's not limited to Japan.

My point was that: If the company that owns and operates the train line, train stations, bus routes and such can’t be bothered to modernize their operations, it’s difficult to imagine Apple coming in to basically do the work for the company, lol.

My hope of hopes is that Fuji Kyuko will one day sell the Fujikyu Line to JR East and we can be done with Fuji Kyuko (for the trains, at least). The Fujikyu Line is slow, infrequent and expensive (slow/infrequent/expensive compared to a similar rural-ish JR train line).

As for the bus lines, I can’t tell you how often a tourist has come up to me to ask the most basic questions about the bus route. And it’s not the tourists’ fault at all. At the end of me giving directions, I’m basically apologizing on behalf of everybody in Yamanashi because of how difficult it is to know how to get around by bus. 😂

 

[Makosuke]

My point was that: If the company that owns and operates the train line, train stations, bus routes and such can’t be bothered to modernize their operations, it’s difficult to imagine Apple coming in to basically do the work for the company, lol.

And my point was exactly the opposite: I don't really care how primitive the local operation is, Apple is a company with 160,000 employees that makes $10 million profit every hour, and they have a tentpole smartphone product--Maps--that they want me to use instead of their competitor's, so it's on them to fill in the data when the organization in charge fails to. Google obviously could and did, years ago. Navitime and I assume other transit-schedule services in Japan can and do as well.

Maps shows dozens of tiny restaurants and stores in just the local area that I'm absolutely certain have no idea they're on Apple Maps, and possibly that there even is an Apple Maps, and shows numerous trails that only a handful of people use every year, because that's what you need in this era to have a useful, map tool, let alone a best-in-class one.

Besides, the Fujikawa town busses actually do accept Pasmo and Suica, even if their bus stops look like something out of a post-apocalyptic anime, so they're a step up from the Minobu Line, and the Minobu Line is the one thing that does have proper transit directions on Map.

My hope of hopes is that Fuji Kyuko will one day sell the Fujikyu Line to JR East and we can be done with Fuji Kyuko (for the trains, at least). The Fujikyu Line is slow, infrequent and expensive (slow/infrequent/expensive compared to a similar rural-ish JR train line).

As for the bus lines, I can’t tell you how often a tourist has come up to me to ask the most basic questions about the bus route. And it’s not the tourists’ fault at all. At the end of me giving directions, I’m basically apologizing on behalf of everybody in Yamanashi because of how difficult it is to know how to get around by bus. 😂

I've never been on the Fujikyu Line, and only rarely in that area at all, but it's certainly more egregious if things suck there since it's such a tourist hotspot compared to, say, Fujikawa or just about anywhere in the southern part of the valley.

The Minobu Line, which is mostly what I use, is relatively infrequent, and it's an absolute embarassment they don't accept Suica, but at least it's not that expensive and it's fairly fast. Leaving aside the walk to the station, it'll get you to Kofu in half the time and for half the price of a bus.