MONTREAL -- Last month one of the most popular transit apps, called Transit, launched the commuter companion tool, Go.
Transit is available in 125 cities across nine countries. It’s one of the most popular public transportation tracking apps because it is designed so users can simply glance at their phones to see where their connections are. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which manages the transportation system in the Greater Boston area, endorsed it as the best transit app for the MBTA.
When users open Transit, it displays nearby departures instantly rather than needing users to input start and end points to surface routes and schedules. Transit claims to be incredibly fast and have better maps than its competitors.
The company has reportedly been fundraising for improvements, including Go, and to ensure it can maintain its claims that it is the fastest and most accurate transit app.
The purpose of Go, according to the company’s post on Medium, is to destress public transit for commuters and answer questions like “Am I running late? Should I start sprinting? Will I make it in time to catch the express, or will I have to take the slow local bus? How many stops are left until my destination? Did I miss my transfer?”
Go monitors users’ walking speeds, telling them whether or not they’ll get to their stops in time. If there are detours or delays, Go will change the connections on users’ journeys in order to get them to their final destinations on time. It will wake users up before their final stops, in case they want to nap on a long commute.
Despite its popularity, the Transit app is not perfect. Data comes in from numerous channels, and in different forms. So, while Transit boasts on its website that it has more real-time data than any other transit app, sometimes there are errors in the data Transit pulls.
