When I wrote about WaPo’s questionable iPhone app choice earlier, reader JW said he’d like to see Nextbus functionality incorporated into an app. Ask and ye shall receive – John popped up to say that he’d added exactly that into his app, Find a Metro DC, and it was just waiting on Apple’s approval.
Well, Apple has now approved it so you can go grab it now. I haven’t had the opportunity to try it yet but the bus times is a nice feature that my current metro app doesn’t offer. John also said that he’s got support for you to pick your 3 favorite spots for quick access, a feature I wouldn’t want to give up from my current app.
Well I used to say something in my profile about not quite being a “tinker, tailor, soldier, or spy” but Tom stole that for our about us page, so I guess I’ll have to find another way to express that I am a man of many interests.
Hmm, guess I just did.
My tastes run the gamut from sophomoric to Shakespeare and in my “professional” life I’ve sold things, served beer, written software, and carried heavy objects… sometimes at the same place. It’s that range of loves and activities that makes it so easy for me to love DC – we’ve got it all.
This looks immenesly useful. It might even get me to take the bus more often instead of relying on the train.
Thanks for the recommendation. Just downloaded it.
Seems its panned by the iTunes reviewers. My ripe – why can’t it do nextbus by GPS? I want to know the nearest bus stop and when a bus will be arriving. Metrorail timing doesn’t matter – you’re either going to take it or not.
Not true for me. I can take two different lines home depending on which is quicker and sometimes it’s quicker to walk to a station farther away rather than wait for a train and transfer.
iTunes reviews are funky sometimes, particularly when they cover an older version.
I just got it and while it works great for the metro, the NextBus timings are broken. No matter what stop you want to look at, it presents no information. Would be amazingly wonderful if it did.
I am the developer of find a metro dc. I apologize for the bus timings not working. They worked since the launch of my update last Friday until today (Tuesday). Nextbus seems to have changed some things, so that is why it stopped working. I have fixed the app and sent a new update to apple.
As for GPS & the buses…I have toyed with the idea of using GPS, but I simply do not believe that the iPhone GPS is accurate enough unless you are standing outside and even then, the closest bus stop may not be the one you want. Since there are over 12,000 bus stops and if you are inside a building, it’s just not going to be accurate enough to be useful. But, I will keep working. Once again, sorry for the issues. I didn’t cause them, but I will fix them.
Try NextBus DC for iPhone or simply got o http://nextbusdc.com for bus times