Article: Real-time apps to track Sydney trains

[ozbob]

From the Sydney Morning Herald click here!

Real-time apps to track Sydney trains

Real-time apps to track Sydney trains
January 31, 2013 - 4:44PM
Jacob Saulwick

Sydney train commuters will soon have access to real-time information on mobile phones that shows when the next train is coming.

The impending release of transport apps showing up-to-the-minute information about where trains are on the network follows the release late last year of apps showing real-time bus information.

Before then, Sydney public transport apps had been limited to providing published timetables. But – as commuters know only too well – trains and buses often arrive well outside their timetabled sequence.

Transport for NSW will run an "app hot house" on the weekend of February 16 and 17 for developers to work on apps featuring real-time train information.

At first, the department will release information only for the Sydney suburban stations, with the exception of the station at Waterfall and the Carlingford Line. It intends to extend the coverage later.

Figures provided by Transport for NSW show the widespread use of the three apps showing real-time bus information. Since December the three apps - called TripView, Arrivo Sydney and TripGo – had been downloaded more than 730,000 times, with commuters accessing their real-time data more than 4 million times.

"We are keen to improve the customer experience on the rail network and we know that a real time train app will give customers the information they need to make decisions about their journey, all in the palm of their hand," the Transport Minister, Gladys Berejiklian, said.

"Customers who have long relied on train timetables will soon be able to know what is happening on the system whether they are at home, work or standing on the platform."

The technology will use markers on stations that will receive information from trains, and then pass it on to the apps.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/smartphone-apps/realtime-apps-to-track-sydney-trains-20130131-2dmyo.html

[SurfRail]

When I queried QR about this, it was again "too hard".  At best they committed to passing on the idea of giving people remote access to what the PIDS displays show (or would show if the station had them fitted).

I can't take anything they say at face value anymore.  It really is as if they rely on people never venturing out of the state and catching somebody else's trains, otherwise the whole house of cards comes crashing down...