New app for smartphones shows arrivals in real time
Bus and train commuters in Calgary will be able to track their rides in real time with Wednesday’s release of the Calgary Transit app for smartphones.
Now available for iPhone and Android, the app provides access to both schedule data and real- time data, including updates on the status of trains and buses, gathered by GPS installed in each vehicle.
“I’ve always said that real- time data is a game- changer,” Mayor Naheed Nenshi said.
Using the same functionality introduced on the Calgary Transit website late last year, Nenshi said the app will make the experience of riding transit better. Knowing whether the bus is going to be late or early allows people to better plan out their days, he said.
“You don’t have to stand outside in the rain or the cold as much as you might have to otherwise.”
Calgary Transit director Doug Morgan said that while bus and train drivers aim to be on time, there are always things that can happen on the road.
The app is also meant to be a refinement of Calgary Transit’s open data API, which gives independent developers access to the agency’s vehicle data.
Nenshi said that open data is the way of the future, and that if any developers think they can do a better job at making an app for Calgary Transit, they should give it a try.
“We wanted to make sure that there was an app that was authorized and was ( made) by Calgary Transit that was ... free,” he said.
As part of the contract for the website that launched last year, the contractor, Transit App. Inc., was also expected to create a new app, Nenshi said.
The Calgary Transit app is available now to download from iTunes or the Google Play Store.