South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
App to let you track trains
Consumers will be able to plan trips on Tri-Rail
A “friendlier” Tri-Rail mobile app is in the works to ease the trip for South Florida commuters on the rail line that runs from West Palm Beach to Miami.
The new app will be designed to have more real-time information for consumers to plan their trips, including schedule changes and train delays, according to the Boca Raton company recently hired to develop it.
Steven Abrams, the incoming director of the light-rail system, recently posted about the new app contract on Facebook, and the train’s public relations director Bonnie Arnold confirmed it Thursday.
In October, the former Palm Beach County Commissioner was named the new director of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, which oversees Tri-Rail.
Abrams, who frequently takes Tri-Rail to commission meetings in West Palm Beach, touted the app changes on Facebook, saying the new app would have “real-speed info and even points of interest near stations!”
Daruma Tech, a software developer located in the Research Park at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, bid for the contract, which is worth “under $100,000,” according to Robert Kennedy, co-founder of the company founded in 2013.
“It was time for it to be reinvented,” said Kennedy, who noted that one problem with Tri-Rail’s current app is that it doesn’t provide
updates when trains are delayed.
The new app aims to allow Tri-Rail passengers to calculate their fares and track train locations in real time. The app also will provide estimated arrival times, station information, and descriptions of points of interest at certain stops, he said.
The app, which will be available for both iOS and Android users, is expected to take about five months to complete, Kennedy said.
Daruma Tech, which has been part of the Research Center for about three years, previously developed apps for Vizcaya Museum and Gardens in Miami; a craft beer association in New York, Vermont, Washington; and the Marines, Kennedy
said.
The company also designed and maintains a website for the Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization.
Kennedy said he hopes the Tri-Rail app development will lay the groundwork for similar apps to be developed by the company.
mpounds@sunsentinel .com, 561-243-6650 or Twitter @marciabiz