Los Angeles Public Transit Information Added to Apple Maps

[MacRumors]

As noted by IT professional and writer Tom Bridge on Twitter, public transit information for Los Angeles has started to go live in Apple Maps on both iOS and El Capitan. The rollout adds another major city to a feature that launched as part of iOS 9.

Transit information may still be rolling out to users. Support will include train, light rail and bus services in addition to transit directions. In October, Apple added transit directions for both Sydney and Boston. Apple has not yet added Los Angeles to the transit section of its iOS 9 feature page.

Article Link: Los Angeles Public Transit Information Added to Apple Maps

 

[logicstudiouser]

Considering my current location in Apple Maps is in the middle of a river, I bet this feature is far away from being a reality where I am!

 

[mrow]

LA has a public transit system?

 

[adamjackson]

LA has a public transit system?

Came here for this comment and was not disappointed.

 

[lk400]

This is happening slower than I had hoped. In a city like Tokyo where very few people drive anywhere and almost the entire (huge) population rely on public transport, Apple maps is really limited and we must rely on google maps of the random spattering of terribly designed Japanese apps.

 

[gijoeinla]

LA has a public transit system?

Believe it or not -- Yep. It's growing. http://media.metro.net/riding_metro/maps/images/system_map.pdf

 

[jozeppy26]

Still waiting for lane guidance...

 

[APlotdevice]

Well they're getting closer.

 

[RoelJuun]

Although I really like how Apple implemented this public transport feature (UI/exits/etc.), I'm afraid I won't be using it at any time (in the Netherlands). This is why: I commute from a village (of which no public transport will be added ever) near a 'big' city from which I then travel by train to another 'big' city. From this city I use local transportation to a smaller city (again of which no public transport will be added ever).

It's only useful when you travel within the city.

I think they should've started with the basics and after that added the stations exits and so on.

 

[Michael Scrip]

LA has a public transit system?

I found their training video:

 

[mw360]

Yes, this is really slow. Just 2 European cities so far. I suspect you could travel all of the routes on these networks faster than Apple is mapping them. Which begs the question, is this mapping project just one guy with a book of timetables and a GPS tracker?

 

[Snakebite202]

This is happening slower than I had hoped. In a city like Tokyo where very few people drive anywhere and almost the entire (huge) population rely on public transport, Apple maps is really limited and we must rely on google maps of the random spattering of terribly designed Japanese apps.

City Mapper

 

[Aluminum213]

Apple maps today ... Getting closer to quality of Google maps from 5 years ago

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

I think they should've started with the basics and after that added the stations exits and so on.

I get where you're coming from, but disagree. If they'd started with the basics, there'd be little reason to pick Apple Maps over Google Maps, unless you were a fanboy.

With Apple providing unique features not available on Google Maps, there's a compelling reason to use Apple Maps, if you're in an area they support.

This approach is the right approach. It's the same one Facebook too. You start off offering a service to a small group of people, but you make the service perfect for them. Only gradually do you expand so that more people can utilize your service.

I want Apple to add in private airlines and busses. Maybe ferries, too.

 

[unobtainium]

Why is Apple so slow? I mean seriously, is it Eddie Cue, as usual?

They should do a massive data dump and add all the fancy entrance and exit data after. It's more important to have scheduled available for as many cities as possible.

 

[Glassed Silver]

Maybe this would get done a lot faster if they actually put in some effort.
This is so un-Appley. Is Maps a hobby akin to what Apple TV "was"?
Is it a full-time project? If so, why are there so few cities in Europe that have Apple Maps transit coverage?
Are they actually approaching transit companies?
Do they even try to figure out local and regional transit structures?

So many questions and so little effort.
Clearly, if there was a lot of things going on in the background that made for a big wave of cities being added they would have just waited, no? This way all they achieve is massive frustration.

What happened to that mantra of delivering when something's done and ready?

Still waiting for lane guidance...

It's not perfect as it is now, but I've had some occassions where Apple Maps did guide me on lanes, especially where there were two or more exit lanes on an Autobahn.
That was fairly handy.

Apple Maps still sucks at guiding you through detours, especially Autobahn detours or moved exits.
I took a 19km unnecessary detour once. That was fun!

I understand it's hard to keep up with detours on a city-level, but at least on highways where the impact is much greater and the detour lasts for long periods of time I'd expect them to have a team work on that.
Especially as they do collect a whole lot of fairly precise actual driving coordinates with Apple Maps.

When an exit gets used 0-3% or so (margin of error) and an otherwise unideal route is taken instead all of a sudden in the vast majority of cases, shouldn't there be a system going off having a Maps engineer check for traffic detours?

What exactly is Maps Management doing?

Glassed Silver:mac

 

[Gasu E.]

Considering my current location in Apple Maps is in the middle of a river, I bet this feature is far away from being a reality where I am!

I doubt you have good access to public transportation, given you are in the middle of a river.

 

[Gasu E.]

What happened to that mantra of delivering when something's done and ready?

Doesn't apply to software, and never has. Ever.

 

[Gasu E.]

This approach is the right approach. It's the same one Facebook too. You start off offering a service to a small group of people, but you make the service perfect for them. Only gradually do you expand so that more people can utilize your service.

Exactly right.

 

[0970373]

City Mapper

City Mapper is the.best.

Also, are there no transit apps for other cities? Even before Apple Maps launched, I used a separate transit app because they were always better than what even Google Maps offered at the time. Any time I traveled someplace I went and found a transit app for that city.

 

[PlutoPrime]

Public Transit in LA? What public Transit? Maybe Apple should be adding this feature first to cities that actually have good Public transit systems like Portland.

 

[APlotdevice]

Public Transit in LA? What public Transit? Maybe Apple should be adding this feature first to cities that actually have good Public transit systems like Portland.

Hey, LA public actually isn't that bad these days. Frequent stops. Rapid transit options. An ever growing inter-city rail system. Honestly I never had any problems at least in the west half of the greater metropolitan area. And considering that it's the second most populous city in the US, frankly it should have been given higher priority than it was.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Doesn't apply to software, and never has. Ever.

It definitely used to apply to software, before patches were trivial to apply. IE, on the Nintendo 64, you wouldn't dare ship a game before finishing it. Manufacturing the cartridges was something like $40/each and there was no going back to patch it later.

 

[lales]

Public Transit in LA? What public Transit? Maybe Apple should be adding this feature first to cities that actually have good Public transit systems like Portland.

I'm a mass transit user in Los Angeles, and I think it's a great system. Are there quirks? Yep. Will it ever be as extensive as NYC's? Nope. Is there room for improvement? Definitely. Nonetheless... I'm on the Gold and Red Lines 3-4 times a week, and so far have been a pretty happy camper - as are the ever increasing number of daily users.

I will admit that my opinion is tempered since I'm within minutes from 3 stations in Northeast LA.

 

[Doctor Q]

Public Transit in LA? What public Transit? Maybe Apple should be adding this feature first to cities that actually have good Public transit systems like Portland.

Public transportation here in L.A. exists, but there's simply no way that the rail system can serve such a spread-out city and get everyone close to where they are going. For me, taking the metro used to require a half-hour drive to the nearest metro station. Now there are more stations and it's only a 15-minute drive to the nearest metro station. That's nothing like what you get in a more compact or transit-rich city, where it's almost always easy walking distance to a rail stop, but it's what we've got. Buses can get you close to your destination, but in L.A. traffic they can take so long that they are useless. And we still don't have a metro to or from our main airport!

Apple maps transit support won't be a panacea, but having a gradually expanding metro system and better transit directions will help.