I was surprised to find that PDX Bus version 5.2 was approved by Apple in just two days! I think this is a record - I was expecting it until next week. The arrivals screen now looks a little different in this new version (see left).Here's what's new:
User requested changes (requests from this blog or twitter!):
- Arrival screen now shows the scheduled time in addition to the estimated time (so you can tell if a bus is running late or early). The arrival time screen has been adjusted to make space for this (e.g. arrivals are not shown to the nearest second and a button has been removed).
- The find stop by location feature has been updated to be more flexible and have more options (such as showing the nearest routes and going straight to a map).
- The "busy" screen has been updated to show what stop is being downloaded.
- Added a very large font Bus Line identifier screen. This is intended as an alternative to the large-print book provided to partially sighted travelers to let the operator know which bus they need to board.
Other updates:
- Updated the rail map to include Bike & Ride Info.
- Added a Facebook Fan Page.
- Added a few more retina graphics (toolbar icons).
- Several bug fixes and new settings (to work around a continuous refresh issue).
- Phone will not go to sleep while showing the Night Visibility Flashing Light (user is warned).
12 comments:
Looks good!
And was that screenshot location randomly picked, or do you live near me...? (That's where I sometimes catch the 45 in the morning...)
:-) thanks. It wasn't completely random - the J is pretty close to where I live and I was using the find nearby stops feature.
On the new locate stop page can you make the button's fonts bigger or a higher contrast like a black backgound
Kyle - I can look into customizing the buttons, the text is a little small.
When I go to work in the morning I leave from one stop. When I go home in the evening I leave from a different stop. I almost always use Stop A in the morning, Stop B in the evening.
But when I open the PDX Bus app, it refreshes with the last stop I used. I'm at Stop B to go home, open PDX Bus, and am presented with arrivals at Stop A. Most people don't use the same stop twice in a row; they use a go-to-work stop then, a few hours later, a go-home stop.
Can you make a morning stop and an evening stop, or have the GPS load times from the nearest bookmarked stop?
Mike - several people have asked for something like this, so after your request I was inspired to do something. I have worked out a solution that I hope will be in the next release. Each bookmark will have an option to autoload on certain a days of the week, either in the morning or afternoon. I think this will do the trick!
Note that there is a use case for reloading the same stop. I hope that option doesn't go away. I often load a stop before I leave home, go run some errands, and keep checking back to see when I have to catch the bus.
Chris - I will still keep that option!
I love this app and use it every day. I just downloaded iOS 5.0 beta from Apple's developer site, and unfortunately the app now crashes when I use transit tracker. Is there any way to fix this?
Keep up the good work!
DeconstructingCory - yup, I found that too. I have a fix in hand, it will be in the next release.
If you are stuck I can give you a fix as an ad-hoc release if you leave your email address & UUID in a comment (I won't publish it publicly).
Andrew, Thanks for giving us PDX Bus. Great app! I drive a bus for TriMet and I use it all the time. Before I drive a new route I study the stops and the map to help lessen the surprises. It's especially helpful when I'm driving in the dark and rain and you can't see the stops. If only riders would use a light...
I also use it when I need to catch a bus on the road to change drivers. And I use TriMet frequently as a rider so use it to plan my trips and find arrival times. It Always Works Flawlessly for me. Thank You!
One thing I'd like to see on the map would be a blue line along the whole route, like Google Maps uses. I don't know how difficult this would be for you to do, but it would be helpful to me.
Once again, Thanks for providing this service to our community!
American Patriot,
Right now the web services data from TriMet does not include that information, but I would like it to - I could ask, I suppose...
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