'Citymapper' and 'Transit App' Offer In-Depth Looks at Transit Experiences on Apple Watch

[iLondoner]

CityMapper was first introduced for London which has a mix of bus, underground (tube), overground (rail), overground (DLR) and river boats, so endless permutations for travel.

I've been using it for two years and can't imagine trying to plan a route without it.

As mentioned in the article, people tend to set the app going, then put the phone away, getting it out ever so often to check when to get off. This is an absolutely ideal application for the Apple Watch.

I've been impressed with the way the developers have rolled out additional cities. Of course it depends on the city having the necessary infrastruture as the information on timings has to come from the city's transport company.

 

[Keirasplace]

It's just a joke. (And a dumb one, sorry!)

But the biggest problem with the people mover it's almost useless. It doesn't go to and from places people want to go to and from. As you found, the best reason to ride it is idle amusement, and then only if it's free. It's like the guy who keeps up a boat but has trouble scraping together the rent and doesn't even live near a lake.

PEople mover have their place in very local transportations, like in airports, accross very big malls or large buildings. They'Re not made for long distance transportation, they're too slow.

 

[grimmace]

Apple Watch Crown

I am surprised that I haven't seen much on reviews as to the crown of the apple watch being smaller than on the sport model. From what I see on Apple's site, the photos shown of the 3 types, have a larger looking crown on the sport model. Having not seen this in person yet, I don't know, but that is my observation so far. May make sense as an active person may need a larger crown while in motion, to make any adjustments. Still, that's a interesting thing and no reviews I have seen, seem to say anything about it.... yet.

 

[BruiserB]

I am surprised that I haven't seen much on reviews as to the crown of the apple watch being smaller than on the sport model. From what I see on Apple's site, the photos shown of the 3 types, have a larger looking crown on the sport model. Having not seen this in person yet, I don't know, but that is my observation so far. May make sense as an active person may need a larger crown while in motion, to make any adjustments. Still, that's a interesting thing and no reviews I have seen, seem to say anything about it.... yet.

I never noticed this until reading your post. It made me look at the apple.com/watch site. And it's not conclusive from what I see.

Here the crowns look the same on the Sport and Edition models:

But here the Sport crown does look larger:

 

[iSee]

PEople mover have their place in very local transportations, like in airports, accross very big malls or large buildings. They'Re not made for long distance transportation, they're too slow.

I should be clear: I'm talking specifically about the people mover in Detroit.

I have a grudge against it because it's one of the clearest manifestations of what went wrong in Detroit. Going way back, a lot of major cities were in serious trouble in the '80s (well before, but that's the part I am familiar with). The contrast between how things played out in places like NYC vs. Detroit is incredible. It didn't have to be that way.

The People Mover is a great example. The plight of inner cities made federal funds available to them for various capital improvement projects. The People Mover came out of one of these. Now, corruption existed all over the place in these kinds of projects. But it was at an incredibly pure level in this one. *No one* at the city level could have cared less that the People Mover made no sense -- this was obvious and widely commented on at the time -- as long as the money flowed, they all had a chance to skim off their piece.

There were bigger injustices though. When I found out what happened at the schools I wanted to cry. (E.g., truck pulls up and delivers text books or computers or whatever. Principal--essentially a political appointee--stands guard over the boxes and a few minutes later another truck pulls up. The boxes are loaded up and taken away.

 

[farmkittie]

It's just a joke. (And a dumb one, sorry!)

But the biggest problem with the people mover it's almost useless. It doesn't go to and from places people want to go to and from. As you found, the best reason to ride it is idle amusement, and then only if it's free. It's like the guy who keeps up a boat but has trouble scraping together the rent and doesn't even live near a lake.

Yes, I couldn't agree more with your assessment. I enjoyed joy-riding on it. If they connected to Wayne State main campus and medical campus it would be cool. In the meantime it does remind me of Coleman Young as this was his baby.

 

[grimmace]

I never noticed this until reading your post. It made me look at the apple.com/watch site. And it's not conclusive from what I see.

Here the crowns look the same on the Sport and Edition models:
Image

But here the Sport crown does look larger:
Image

Exactly! The front fascia displays the crown at a different width. This could simply be an issue with the designer's placement of all 3 on the site, but they sure do look identical in size there. Anyway, it would actually make sense to do so, like I said, but this is most likely just from a different set of photos or, it truly is a little larger... Apple WOULD say something about this tho, I would think. Using photoshop of the front fascia, I see that the sport IS a bit larger than the others when placed over them. Therefore, my thought now is that this particular image is from another set of photos than the others. I doubt the sport is any larger at all, but we will see.

 

[ttss6]

It's possible that Apple hasn't covered the numerous features (ex. Christie Turlington Burns' stride learning thing) and possibilities both to surprise owners as well as to allow people to discover what they personally find useful.

 

[JAT]

If you live in a big city you likely know how to use the system even if you are an irregular user. It's a boon for visiting other cities and navigating their systems you aren't as familiar with. You do travel, right?

I think you are overestimating the latest generations of people. They'd rather not learn anything if at all possible.

I'm trying to figure out whether I think Wall-E or Idiocracy will become prophetic first. Tough call.

 

[critter13]

Transit App

Apple needs to buy Transit App.

 

[KiwiAdventure]

The iWatch looks to be a total waste of time. Who needs or wants to wear this not so nice looking watch.

 

[iSee]

...Coleman Young...

Don't trigger me!!!

 

[farmkittie]

Don't trigger me!!!

Ha-ha-ha-ha-hah. One wag said that he was the biggest people mover in Detroit

 

[mel823]

The Transit app is okay. From my experience, the bus arrival is usually incorrect because the buses aren't on schedule to begin with. The trains are so deep underground, you don't even get a signal, making the app useless. If you take a number train, the stations already have arrival clocks in them, so once again the app is useless. And, my biggest issue is that it doesn't inform you of any delays. I still have to check with the MTA app for that information. The app can be useful if you're going to a subway. I haven't used the other transit modes so I can't comment on those.

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Apple needs to buy Transit App.

They bought Embark, 2-3 years ago, which was a transit app.

 

[orioncrystalice]

The iWatch looks to be a total waste of time.

What you did there....it was seen.

 

[Oberlin]

I'm a developer. I've seen both the Apple and Google Wear APIs. And yes the Apple Watch APIs seem far more advanced than what Google has put out there. And Apple hasn't even allowed us to create apps directly on the Watch yet.

As a data point, here's a developer who's created the same app on Apple Watch and Android Wear.

http://elekslabs.com/2015/03/apple-watch-vs-android-wear-time-to-drive-tesla-further.html

 

[funone0]

This is going to be another of many great uses for the watch

 

[henzpwnapple]

As more and more developers start developing better experiences adapted to the unique experience of the watch, the naysayers are going to look sillier and sillier.

Apple's real secret to success is they create awesome platforms that make developers lives easier (with well thought out and advanced APIs) and rewarding (with financially sustainable systems).

Their haters and competitors still don't seem to have figured this out yet.

Also, most people aren't developers and they don't understand that the hardest work goes into developing platforms and systems. Those well thought out APIs are the reason developers are able to create such great apps with ease. But if you aren't a developer, you have no clue what's going on behind the scenes.

The difference between the Apple Watch APIs and the Android Wear APIs are so big it seems like Google just rushed something out the door to compete with the Apple rumors. You can tell Apple put a lot of thought into everything and spent a long time developing this.

I want flippy bird on WATCH!

 

[rorschach]

If you live in a big city you likely know how to use the system even if you are an irregular user. It's a boon for visiting other cities and navigating their systems you aren't as familiar with. You do travel, right?

There's still a use even for transit in your own city, which is service changes and disruptions. Those happen all the time here in New York.

For example, the 4 might be running local in Manhattan; if I know that, then taking the 2 to Times Square for the 7 or the shuttle might be faster. That's why I still use iTrans even though I was born and raised here and know the subway system in and out.

 

[Fzang]

There's still a use even for transit in your own city, which is service changes and disruptions. Those happen all the time here in New York.

For example, the 4 might be running local in Manhattan; if I know that, then taking the 2 to Times Square for the 7 or the shuttle might be faster. That's why I still use iTrans even though I was born and raised here and know the subway system in and out.

Or the fact that no human could possibly remember that 86, 15, 26, 630, 913 and 398 can all take you to your destination, but at different minutes.

 

[FieldingMellish]

Tiny text limits that app's appeal and utility. It needs to be a one-line scroller as you navigate about, staring at your wrist. In the middle of it all, someone will interrupt your journey by asking you the time.

 

[Keirasplace]

As a data point, here's a developer who's created the same app on Apple Watch and Android Wear.

http://elekslabs.com/2015/03/apple-watch-vs-android-wear-time-to-drive-tesla-further.html

It barely talks about the Apple Watch, seems they haven't actually touched it in this article... Also, any watch can last 5 days if you don't use it much... So, their comments in the article are weird.

Also, they plain called their own app on Android wear a battery hog... So, that tells you why Apple is refraining from native apps at launch.

Its no secret that Apple refrained from opening their watch to native Apps until... well, people actually had watches to play with, and make sure they'Re not killing it.

Android wear watches are out, so that isn't an issue in their case.

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The Transit app is okay. From my experience, the bus arrival is usually incorrect because the buses aren't on schedule to begin with. The trains are so deep underground, you don't even get a signal, making the app useless. If you take a number train, the stations already have arrival clocks in them, so once again the app is useless. And, my biggest issue is that it doesn't inform you of any delays. I still have to check with the MTA app for that information. The app can be useful if you're going to a subway. I haven't used the other transit modes so I can't comment on those.

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They bought Embark, 2-3 years ago, which was a transit app.

Isn't there supposed to be cell service in the subway in NYC, even Montreal has that now (and we are rarely the first to get anything).

 

[Chupa Chupa]

There's still a use even for transit in your own city, which is service changes and disruptions. Those happen all the time here in New York.

For example, the 4 might be running local in Manhattan; if I know that, then taking the 2 to Times Square for the 7 or the shuttle might be faster. That's why I still use iTrans even though I was born and raised here and know the subway system in and out.

Sure, but you don't need step-by-step instructions for that, but rather just to know what buses or trains are off-schedule. There are other apps that do that much quicker and tell you exactly when the next bus or train where you are is arriving.

 

[mgoldberg]

Nothing about the iWatch or a Smartphone in general satisfies a need. I'll most like buy one for the following 3 reasons

1) I'm a techie
2) It looks like fun
3) I want one.

I have absolutely no need for one but I'd imagine many people are in this same situation

And that about sums it up for almost all of us.
Still, I would hope I actually make it useful.....

 

[rorschach]

Sure, but you don't need step-by-step instructions for that, but rather just to know what buses or trains are off-schedule. There are other apps that do that much quicker and tell you exactly when the next bus or train where you are is arriving.

Transit does exactly that, actually. They have a Notification Center widget which shows the next departing times of my selected lines (subway, bus, commuter rail, anything) at the closest stations. That’s mainly what I use it for and it works quite well.