Moovit 3.0 Real-Time Transit Info

Last week I received an invitation to beta test the next update for moovit. Since then I have been trying out all the features and using their app to get to and from work everyday.  I have to start by saying that this app has received a much needed make over. While not all the graphics are amazing they are a HUGE improvement over the current version on the app store.

First I have to welcome moovit to the world of flat design, the logo and basically everything inside the app has been revamped to match the trends in UI design that we've been seeing in IOS7 and what we will be seeing in Android's Kitkat. The first thing that I noticed upon launching the app was that they finally cleaned up the screen to make everything easier to see and more aesthetically pleasing to use. The map has been cleaned up, I always felt that the orange flags for the bus stops were always too big, I'm not really sure that blue was the right color to go for but the size of them makes it much easier to tell which stop is on which side of the street.

old version

I have to say that the new icon and "characters" are very cute and have a very modern feel. The old logo with the thick lines felt dated especially after the release of IOS7 and the movement of the rest of the design world to flat design.  Even just the simple change of the layout of the boxes in the trip planning screens is a huge improvement.


The number one thing that made me hate the old moovit were the menus. They were bulky, ugly and some times hard to read. Now that the menus are built in the Google standard, sliding in from the side and solid they are easy to see, read and use.  There is one icon that I felt was weird the moment I started up the app, it is the plan trip icon on the main screen. To me it looks like it was a mistake, I would suggest working on a better icon the other two are cute but that was one is very weird looking.

One complaint that I have had in the past was that moovit would send me alerts about bus lines that were changed or when the Tel Aviv marathon was warning me that bus lines would be changed for the day, but they were never relevant to me. I feel like an app that I use everyday to take the same buses to and from
work should know what routes I take and only alert me of changes in the routes that I take on a regular basis. I do like that in the new version you can choose the lines that you get alerts about, but I feel like it should be an intelligent system that learns my routine.

I have not had the chance to try out the navigation, but when I do I will update this post. Also does anyone know what the points are for? I have been using this app for two years and have yet to understand what they mean.

There is one feature that I feel is missing, under favorites I think that there should be the option to favorite a bus stop and not just a line. I find that I take buses from the same stop all the time, and have lines that are my favorites but they're not always the line that is going to be coming the soonest. The problem I then run into is that I can see when my favorite line is coming to the stop that I have marked, but there is no way to just from the stop on the favorite line to the list of buses that are coming that stop. This feature may be more complicated than I'm thinking it is, but for people like me who go to the same stops with multiple lines that do similar routes this would be very helpful.

I was invited to try out the new payment system that the creators of moovit are working on. I am very interested to see this project progress further, they could revolutionize how we use public transportation.

Have you been use Moovit or another public transportation app? We'd love to hear about them in the comments bellow!

Netbus: an app for commuters

There has been a lot of hype lately about the new social bus tracking app called Moovit but what most people probably haven't heard about yet, unless you follow the tech news is a new app called Netbus.

What this app does is it tracks where buses are at all times. So when I'm leaving for work in the morning I just dial in the bus number that I'm planning to take and the app will list the stops in order of how close they are to you.  Picking the stop that you want to catch the bus at and the direction that you want to take the bus in will show you the map of the bus stop's location and at the top of the screen is a count down until the bus will arrive.

You may be wondering how this works and what makes this app so much more accurate than Moovit or any other transit apps that you could be using. According to an article on Ynet Netbus has an agreement with the transpiration ministry in Israel that every bus has to have a GPS on it and that GPS has to check into the app every 15 seconds. This means no more relying on users to check in on a bus on Moovit (which lets be honest no one did) and that the drivers don't have to check in when they pass a stop (which they didn't really on moovit) which leaves you with no guess work as to when and where your bus is.

A feature that I have not had the chance to test out yet, but I will update when I do is that you can tell the app to alert you before the bus comes. Lets say that it takes you 5 minutes to get to the bus stop so you can tell Netbus to alert you 10 minutes before the bus comes so you have enough time to get there before it does!

You can see the bus schedules for lines, stops favorite a line that you take often so that you can get to it quickly. If you went somewhere yesterday and can't remember exactly how you got there Netbus has a history to show you what bus lines and stops you looked at.  The only really helpful feature that seems to be missing is the ability to plan a trip that would take you on multiple lines, but I'm sure that is in the works.

There are a few down sides to this app that I'm sure with time will be worked out. First main thing that I found was that this app does not have an English option, while there are no menus or really complicated things going on I would like to see an English version in the near future to give all those who don't read Hebrew the ability to use the app. Like Moovit it doesn't have a very nice GUI, the buttons look like a developer put it together. The font is a standard Ariel and when you are looking at the stop list is a little too small making it hard to read. The dark colors also make using this app a challenge in the bright sun light.

They even took the guess work out of where the bus stop is, in Moovit you have to try every little orange flag until you find the one with the bus line that you want, but here its working the other way around. When you know which bus you want to take and where you want to take it to, all you have to do is look up the line number and the app will tell you roughly how far from you the bus stop is! Plus the map only shows the desired bus line so if you aren't sure where you're bus stops you can select one of the little buses it tells you the bus stop name and direction that the bus is going in.

On the topic of bus stop icons, a very key feature that is driving me away from this app is that there is no way for me to see which buses stop at a given bus stop and when each one of the buses are going to arrive. I run into this problem on my way home from work, on the way in I search for a single bus because I want to get there as quickly as possible but on the way home I want to be on the first bus that comes. It doesn't matter which of the 3 bus lines I take I just want to start moving towards home. With Netbus the only way for me to see which bus is coming sooner is to search for each bus individually which can be very tedious.

I do like that the app is much lighter than Moovit and doesn't ask me to be sure I want to exit when I leave and especially like that it doesn't stay running in the background like Moovit draining my battery. I can see a lot of potential for this app and hope that they keep it moving forward because as a daily commuter these apps are the best tool you can carry.

Netbus has a lot of catching up to do since Moovit has been boasting that they just hit 2 million users, but with an app that works as well as this they shouldn't stay behind for too much longer.

The app is available for both iPhone and Android (even you Gingerbread users!)