The Transit App – Initial Thoughts

This guest post contains the opinion of the writer and does not represent the official views of Bus Riders of Saskatoon.

 

After years (or what seemed like years) of waiting for Saskatoon Transit to both equip their fleet with GPS and provide real time information on bus locations that day finally arrived as described in a previous post a few weeks ago.

No doubt many of you immediately tried out the new Saskatoon Transit website, especially the new trip planning tool and the real time bus location functions as did I. Like myself, many of you were probably cautiously optimistic, only to be somewhat let down by the new website. It’s adequate if you are on a computer, but on your phone? Not so much.

Saskatoon Transit has stated that they have no plans to develop a mobile app, instead relying on the website which is designed to be “mobile friendly”. I have not found it to be very “mobile friendly”, nor easy and convenient to use on my phone. Their decision may be a good one in a way, as it seems that every other transit system that uses similar software (which to my knowledge is based on the Trapeze software commonly used by public transit systems) seems to have similar problems. Edmonton Transit did release their own mobile app, to poor reviews and much derision.

Fortunately there is an alternative, and probably more to come. The Transit App, developed by a Montreal company is one of many mobile apps available for transit users. Like most apps, this one was basing its information on available public schedules but did not have real time information.

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Minutes from Meeting #6 with Saskatoon Transit

Three of our member, (Sarina, Samuel, and Robert), met with Saskatoon Transit for the Bus Riders of Saskatoon Meeting #6.  It took place on March 11, 2015.

Among the topics discussed:

  • The Downtown Bus Mall
  • Signal Prioritization
  • Bus Service to North Industrial in the Future
  • Data Collection
  • The New Website
  • Snow Removal
  • Safety Protocols

These meetings are held each month. Three people from our group attend. Besides Sarina, who attends regularly to ensure institutional memory and compile minutes, these members change. If you would like to attend a meeting, the group asks that you first attend the Bus Rider of Saskatoon’s monthly meeting. For those who cannot attend, please email any concerns or ideas to busridersofsaskatoon@gmail.com.  They will be very much appreciated in our meetings with Saskatoon Transit.