Comments on: One Bus Away: The Ultimate Bus Tool

By: Karank

Karank — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:55:54 +0000

Seattle Bus Map on the app store updated their app sometime last month and its a huge improvement. Really like what they have done. The price is now 5$, compared to 10 when I bought it. I like seeing the Map and the moving buses. Their estimated position of the buses is better than everything else there.

By: G.

G. — Sun, 31 May 2009 06:37:57 +0000

Unfortunately, the neighborhood information is not always correct, making it difficult to locate bus stops through the cumbersome drill-down menus. For instance, the application lists the #16 stops on Stone Way as being in Fremont, which is contrary to public perception and the City Clerk’s neighborhood maps. The developer seems to have a holier than thou attitude regarding this issue (as well as very poor spelling ability), arguing that this is a subjective matter. Therefore, I do not expect a fix anytime soon.

By: PK

PK — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 15:35:05 +0000

If you have an iPhone you can bookmark the page and “add to home screen” allowing you to press one button and navigate to the page. Almost an app

By: Tim F

Tim F — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:48:13 +0000

Brian, YOU ROCK!!
My only question is; Why couldn’t Metro do something like this years ago? Is it perhaps government agencies just don’t know how to service the public the way private individuals do?
Hmmm…..something to think about.

By: Jolie

Jolie — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 01:50:26 +0000

Hmm, since the recent shakeup it’s been more difficult to find the stop number– Metro seems to have changed the format on the schedules and hidden the stop number. Has anyone else had this problem?

By: John Jensen

John Jensen — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:12:05 +0000

I think you’ll only get information for ST routes that are operated by Metro (i.e., those contained mostly within King County such as the 522, 550, 545, etc).

By: joshuadf

joshuadf — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 19:34:33 +0000

Weird. Works now for the 550, but not other routes like 586 or 594.

By: Amy

Amy — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:42:02 +0000

I was able to get information on the 550?

By: joshuadf

joshuadf — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 03:59:28 +0000

Am I an idiot or can you search for Sound Transit routes at all? If I go to, for example, “2 AV & UNIVERSITY ST” on either mybus or onebusaway it shows “550E Bellevue – 110 Ave NE and NE 12 St” but I can’t seem to get any route info searching for “550″ or “550E”.

By: in other blogs: bless the cbc for live coverage and correct pronunciation | Seattle Metblogs

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 16:35:34 +0000

[...] One Bus Away is the “new king of bus arrival prediction sites“. I’ve been meaning to try out the iPhone app, but haven’t been convinced to shell out $10. [seattletransitblog] [...]

By: D. Lee Grooms

D. Lee Grooms — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 14:11:01 +0000

This rules. Maybe a webapp icon/button? But this is so much better than my nasty MyBus/Tracker iPhone bookmarks. Thanks!

By: Philip

Philip — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 06:19:49 +0000

Oh man, I wish I’d checked the blog this morning before leaving the house, this app would’ve been very handy today. But I’m thrilled to know about this resource now, and I’ve added a custom button to my iPhone for the web app – I’ll probably buy the Seattle Bus app mentioned above, too.

By: Joe G

Joe G — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:44:16 +0000

I figured this much. Thank you for setting the record straight.

By: John Jensen

John Jensen — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:31:41 +0000

It’s not an app, it’s a “web app” — a web page that acts like an app.

By: Joe G

Joe G — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:14:08 +0000

Am i crazy or is this not an app to actually put on your iphone. It looks to me that i just have to use safari to go to the site every time i want to see it. Someone please say i am wrong and then correct me on how to download the app.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:05:57 +0000

Sound Transit provided the framework… and now you have a solution. What more could you ask for?

By: Brian Ferris

Brian Ferris — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:40:21 +0000

For what it’s worth, I’ve actually found a free SMS solution (http://www.textmarks.com/ the same thing NextBus uses) so text-messaging should be coming down the pipe shortly.

I agree that busy stops are kind of a pain on the phone. Note that it’s possible to hear arrivals for only a particular route by pressing 1 followed by the route number and then # when you’re at the point where arrival information is being read to you. Also, I’m going to change it so only departures up to five minutes ago are listed (as oppossed to the current 10 minutes). Hopefully should help as well.

By: adam

adam — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:18:47 +0000

I’d be nice if Sound Transit could get their act together and do something like this for the express buses. In the distant future, this sort of thing could be applied to the light rail, too.

(As a Tacoma resident, it would be nice if Pierce Transit could also do this – and its probably quite a bit more doable for PT than for ST.)

By: John Jensen

John Jensen — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:13:00 +0000

It’d be nice to support SMS, like mybus. Email would actually suffice for a lot of phones, and would probably be easier to support.

The phone number is cool in a squeeze, but it’s kind of slow to listen through all the results — and plan for things. The SMS/email helps more for planning :)

By: AJ

AJ — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:05:53 +0000

You weren’t prepared so the sark, sorry :(