Idle Time » Blog Archive » Let the user help solve their own problem
I wish we had a maps app like Apple Maps or Google Maps that let you order up a travel itinerary using public transit between two points, and explicitly pick the transit routes involved. Or, ideally, multiple sets of routes, for comparison.
Like, let’s say I’m in the Mission and I wanna get to the Metreon. One of the existing apps might suggest the 14R rapid bus, which arrives in X minutes and takes Y minutes, or BART, which arrives in Z minutes and takes W minutes. But it might leave out alternatives like taking the 49 bus to Van Ness Station and then taking the Muni subway from there.
Sometimes all the app’s recommendations are reasonable, but sometimes there’s one or more options that might be preferable—and I don’t know how preferable if the app isn’t showing me when the next 49 arrives, so I can compare to the 7 minutes for a 14R or 9 minutes (including a short walk) for BART.
What I want is the ability to add a specific set of routes to include in consideration, or even to force an itinerary using those routes. Let me say “49, KLMN” and have it include that series of routes among my options for comparison.
