iPhone Train Apps

[printman2000]

I bought an iPhone (3G not 3Gs) right before leaving on our New York trip. It was incredibly useful in NYC.

Just wondering what apps concerning trains and railroads people are using if any. I have seen many for big city metro systems. Any others?

 

[jis]

Just wondering what apps concerning trains and railroads people are using if any. I have seen many for big city metro systems. Any others?

I have so far used the following: (pulls out his iPhone and takes a look at it.....)

1. ITB NJT Rail: NJT train timetables and planner

2. iTrans NJT: Another NJT schedule and planner with a map

3. iRail: European rail travel planner. Came in incredibly handy in Scotland

4. iTrans LA Metrolink: schedule for LA Metrolink

5. iTrans LA Metro: schedules for LA Metro

And of course there is the obligatory GPS app for use while riding trains. I have found the following most useful:

- GPS MotionX

 

[jackal]

Just wondering what apps concerning trains and railroads people are using if any. I have seen many for big city metro systems. Any others?

I have so far used the following: (pulls out his iPhone and takes a look at it.....)

1. ITB NJT Rail: NJT train timetables and planner

2. iTrans NJT: Another NJT schedule and planner with a map

3. iRail: European rail travel planner. Came in incredibly handy in Scotland

4. iTrans LA Metrolink: schedule for LA Metrolink

5. iTrans LA Metro: schedules for LA Metro

And of course there is the obligatory GPS app for use while riding trains. I have found the following most useful:

- GPS MotionX

The built-in Maps app (powered by Google Maps) has transit directions for many markets around the world. (You can see a list of the agencies on a sub-page from http://www.google.com/transit.)

Also, a new app called Transit Maps lets you search for, download, and save PDF maps from transit agencies' websites.

For general GPS use (speed, direction, altitude [though altitude on a GPS is never very accurate], etc.), GPS MotionX (mentioned by jis) is good, as is TrackThing and GPS Tracker. (GPS Tracker is cool in that it uploads your current position to a website, which you can later use to see your path or can share so others can track you.) I think GPS MotionX is the most comprehensive, though.

 

[DaveKCMO]

i use the transit directions built in to the included Google Maps application quite often. nearly every major transit agency is now represented, and it gives you relatively seamless step-by-step trips across modes (rail > bus > walk) and systems (MUNI > BART, for example, which iBART does NOT do).

i've found Speed to be a simple and relatively effective tool while on trains. i could care less about the actual GPS coordinates, but confirming how slow some trains move is good info to have when determining if you'll be delayed. it doesn't not require a data connection to function, which is helpful in areas without good cell coverage.

i also love TripIt for overall itinerary planning. it accepts Amtrak reservation emails, as well as hotel, restaurant, and airline reservations and creates an itinerary based on that data.

 

[Steve4031]

Double check info found on ITB transit buddy. I got grossly inaccurate information about MARC train service. The app shows weekend service for the PENN line.

 

[jis]

Double check info found on ITB transit buddy. I got grossly inaccurate information about MARC train service. The app shows weekend service for the PENN line.

NJT is OK, except when NJT forgets to update the database, which they have managed to do a couple of times.

 

[jis]

For general GPS use (speed, direction, altitude [though altitude on a GPS is never very accurate], etc.), GPS MotionX (mentioned by jis) is good, as is TrackThing and GPS Tracker. (GPS Tracker is cool in that it uploads your current position to a website, which you can later use to see your path or can share so others can track you.) I think GPS MotionX is the most comprehensive, though.

One good thing about MotionX is that you can cache a bunch of maps, which can prove to be important when traveling through the sticks with spotty cell data service coverage.

 

[David Marcus]

I bought an iPhone (3G not 3Gs) right before leaving on our New York trip. It was incredibly useful in NYC.
Just wondering what apps concerning trains and railroads people are using if any. I have seen many for big city metro systems. Any others?

I built an iPhone app for planning trips on buses and trains, from anywhere in the US to anywhere else. It's called Routefriend. You can check it out at http://j.mp/rf-app

 

[fredevad]

- GPS MotionX

I second (or third or forth... whatever) the MotionX. There are 2 versions of this. The Lite version only lets you save 1 Geo Track, one picture waypoint, and limits the amount of maps you can cache. The Non-lite version is only a couple of bucks through iTunes, I just haven't gotten around to purchasing it yet (too busy saving for Amtrak tickets to be making iTunes purchases).

Again, a major problem with alot of these GPS apps is that they get their maps in real time over the network, so you must have at least an Edge connection to see a map. As jis pointed out, you can cache maps, however if you're using the Lite (free) version, you're pretty limited and pretty much need to decide on a zoom level before you go that covers your route. But the downside to having the maps locally is that they take up alot of space.

I also bought the TomTom car mount. I actually got mine at my local Apple store (didn't have to order it from TomTom). It works great attached to the window of the train and seems to have a better GPS chip than the built in iPhone GPS chip. It also lets you keeps the phone charged while it's in the cradle and therefore you can leave the screen on full time without worrying about running the battery down. Although I have the TomTom GPS app, you don't need it to use the TomTom car mount.

The problem I've found with the TomTom software (both in a TomTom device and in the iPhone app) is that they want to stay on a street, so it can get a little annoying when you're zoomed in where you can see the local streets. I really wish there was a way to turn off "snap to street".

 

[jamesontheroad]

For travel in the UK, National Rail Enquiries have their own app which retails for £4.99 and which won Mobile Product of the Year in the 2009 UK IT Awards. However CrossCountry Trains and TheTrainLine.com both have their own free apps which offer almost all the same features for free. I switch between the two latter apps to get live departure times, delay info etc. The 'Next Train Home' button is quite handy, since it just finds the nearest station to you and tells you what services to take to get back to your home station

 

[TravelSimpleScott]

When you asked, printman2000, about apps for rail travel I thought of BART[bay Area Regional Transit for anyone who is not familiar with the Bay area in Northern California] (as I'm located in Sacrmaneto, CA). They have an app for that (surprise!) called iBart. I went online and founda whole list from BART's website of rail and municiple travel apps:

Free Apps

NAME: BART Departures

PLATFORM: Facebook

DEVELOPER: Platform Associates

WHAT IT DOES: look up real time departures, message friends when taking a BART trip

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NAME: BART Planner

PLATFORM: Mac OSX

DEVELOPER: Definition LLC

WHAT IT DOES: Scheduled trip plans

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NAME: BART Rider

PLATFORM: Android

DEVELOPER: Sinan Akay

WHAT IT DOES: Real-time departure information and alerts

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NAME: BART Live Arrivals

PLATFORM: iPhone, iPod Touch

DEVELOPER: taapuna.com

WHAT IT DOES: Real-time departure information (1 station only), system map

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NAME: BayTripper

PLATFORM: iPhone, iPod Touch

DEVELOPER: Jerald Jariyasunant and Eric Mai

WHAT IT DOES: Real-time transit trip planner that includes BART and other agencies

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NAME: Estately

PLATFORM: Web

DEVELOPER: Estately, Inc.

WHAT IT DOES: Search real estate listings by proximity to a BART station

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NAME: Google Earth / Google Earth for iPhone

PLATFORM: Various

DEVELOPER: Google

WHAT IT DOES: Station, route and schedule information in the transit sublayer

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NAME: Google Maps / Google Maps for Your Phone

PLATFORM: Various

DEVELOPER: Google

WHAT IT DOES: Trip planner, station information, cost of BART vs. driving

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NAME: iBART

PLATFORM: iPhone, iPod Touch

DEVELOPER: PanDav

WHAT IT DOES: Trip planner, station information, scheduled arrivals, delay advisories, system map

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NAME: NextBus Mobile

PLATFORM: Mobile web

DEVELOPER: NextBus Information Systems

WHAT IT DOES: Real-time departure information (currently in Free Trial beta mode)

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NAME: TrainText

PLATFORM: Twitter

DEVELOPER: Mason Blake

WHAT IT DOES: Two-way, SMS-style real time information via Twitter

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NAME: TransiCast

PLATFORM: Android

DEVELOPER: Joachim Pfeiffer

WHAT IT DOES: Real-time departures, station information for BART and other agencies

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NAME: Transitly

PLATFORM: Web app for iPhone, iTouch, Android

DEVELOPER: Liquid Mongoose

WHAT IT DOES: Scheduled departure times, remembers preferred trips

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NAME: The BART Widget

PLATFORM: Mac OS X Dashboard

DEVELOPER: Bret Victor

WHAT IT DOES: Trip Planner, system map

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NAME: The Next Train

PLATFORM: Mobile web

DEVELOPER: Jehiah Czebotar

WHAT IT DOES: Trip Planner

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Not Free Apps

NAME: BARTdroid

PLATFORM: Android

NAME: BART Live Arrivals Pro

PLATFORM: iPhone, iPod Touch

NAME: Bartomatic

PLATFORM: iPhone, iPod Touch

NAME: iBART Live

PLATFORM: iPhone, iPod Touch

NAME: iTransitBuddy

Platform: iPhone, iPod Touch

NAME: MuniApp

Platform: iPhone, iPod Touch

NAME: NextBART

Platform: iPhone, iPod Touch

NAME: NextTrain BART - AR

Platform: iPhone, iPod Touch

NAME: pBART

Platform: Palm Pre, Palm Pixi

NAME: Routesy

Platform: iPhone, iPod Touch

NAME: SF Subway Maps

PLATFORM: iPhone, iPod Touch

NAME: The Next Train

PLATFORM: iPhone, iPod Touch

NAME: TransitGuru BART

PLATFORM: Android, iPhone, iPod Touch

NAME: RailBandit

PLATFORM: Blackberry, Nokia, Samsung, SE J2ME

NAME: Tube

PLATFORM: Blackberry, iPhone, iPod Touch

NAME: UniBus

PLATFORM: iPhone, iPod Touch