App Profile: OneBusAway

sunsucker

Rating: 3/5

It would be good if the developers would do something about the multiple “not connected to the internet” pop-ups that pile up on top of one another, blocking the user’s action until they’re dismissed by the user. And what is particularly annoying is that this usually happens when the phone has just disconnected from Wi-Fi but still has a cellular connection, and so it reconnects to the network in less than two seconds, but the pop-ups still persist. Why don’t these pop-ups automatically disappear when connectivity is restored? Hey developer: How about finding a way of communicating a lack of connectivity that doesn’t interfere with every single other function of the app? How about just having a green/red online/offline icon at the bottom of the screen? Also, the font color for an on-time bus is puke green. Like the same ugly green that is used for non-Apple contacts in iMessage. That should be a nicer shade of green. Early and late busses should be more distressed colors. Also, when I click on a bus to see where it is on the map, I don’t need to see the entire route. I only need to see the part of the route between myself and the bus. And why does the label for the stop I’m at have to pop up and block the view? I know where I am. I want to see where the bus is, and now it’s being blocked by a label that I don’t need.

riverrat92121

Rating: 5/5

This app does sensible, useful things, and has a vastly better interface the other transit apps I've seen. It has a developer that apparently cares about making it better, which is practically unheard of. It even has good iPad functionality, and takes advantage of the larger format! I'm from San Diego; when I visited LA recently, I sorely missed this app. Trust me, the alternatives are all much worse. Sure, it's sometimes a little off on the timing estimates between stops. It doesn't handle layovers well, assuming the bus will leave early because it's present before the time it's scheduled to leave. And when a bus stops at the same stop when going in two different directions, I wish it would separate them out into different listings. But if you want to find, with reasonable accuracy, when a bus will be somewhere, and even filter by routes or bookmark frequently used stops, this is a solid and functional app, and if your local transit company makes use of it, believe me, it's way better than anything they would've come out with themselves. I use it often and am frequently pleased at how not-impossible it is to use, which is high praise for an app of this nature. I rarely encounter bugs, and updates actually bring useful improvements. It's a rare thing: a free app I'd actually be willing to pay for.

EMH52

Rating: 3/5

The app said the bus was 3 stops away when it was at my stop. My location services were on. The entire ride to work, the app was inaccurate by multiple stops. This is nice for a general idea, but it's tracking algorithm is clearly not accurate when it comes to how long busses take to get from one stop to the next/can't account for when busses don't stop. Fairly disappointing considering the app boasts real time tracking, which I took to mean their is a gps in the bus tracking it. This is not real time tracking. It's "within 5 minutes tracking". Not good enough for commuting to work and minimizing time at a bus stop.