There seems to be no shortage of Muni apps for iPhone. We think that’s a good thing; a little competition should lead to a better product, right? Here to review one of the latest apps is Muni rider Stephanie. Stephanie reviewed Smart Ride, which is free from the iTunes store, by the way. Here’s her take:

As a habitual SF Muni rider for close to 10 years, I have become keen on new Muni iPhone apps. Bottom line, they’re nothing but useful. They save riders time by showing arrival times of any given bus. I recently downloaded Smart Ride, and enjoyed its features. First of all, it’s free. That’s huge to me, because I really only download free apps, no matter how popular they are. I’m sure a lot of Muni riders will appreciate this also.

The user interface is clean and easy to understand. The app asks for permission to locate your current location, and proceeds to bring up a page of nearby stops and their next arrival predictions. Smart Ride also displays the approximate distance (in feet) to each bus stop. This may seem frivolous, but it’s actually pretty interesting to know which stop is technically closer to you!

The app also features a live map and a directory of different public transportation agencies. I found this a positive thing, since it would be useful when traveling in different cities. I particularly like the fact that the directory stays on your chosen agency (SF Muni) even when you are using the other features of this app. I find it frustrating when some apps reset once you veer away from a certain location, and the user is forced to go back through the motions of choosing their preferences again.

From my experience, Smart Ride’s predictions have been accurate, and I have enjoyed using this application. The Favorites feature sets it apart from some Muni apps out there. It allows you to save your frequently used stops, which is extremely helpful when you’re in a rush! Overall, I am pretty pleased with Smart Ride. It covers all the bases, and is quick and easy to understand. Thanks for saving me time, Smart Ride!

Thanks, Stephanie. Now when is the Android app market going to explode? Too much to ask, I know ;)

Previous iPhone app reviews on Muni Diaries:

• Routesy Pro 3.0
• Muniverse
• iCommute

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If you liked this Muni diary, you might like:

1. Muni Diaries iPhone App Review: Routesy Pro 3.0
2. Muni Diaries iPhone App Review: iCommute
3. Muni Diaries iPhone App Review: Muniverse

Muni rider and perpetual student Angela helped Routesy developer Steven beta-test the newest version of his app. Here’s her review:

As a longtime SF public transportation rider, one of the websites I visit the most wheatear it be on my phone or my laptop, is NextBus.com. For the most part, NextBus does what it’s supposed to do, and if you’ve visited their website on your smartphone, you know that it’s visually bare and very basic. There are no maps or bookmarks. Every now and again, I would use the free Routesy app. But the reason I don’t rely on the free Routesy app often is that the app would crash on me and was just too unreliable.

Muni Diaries was looking for testers to play with a beta version of the new Routesy app. I volunteered and have been using the new app for a few weeks, mainly to look-up Muni schedules. I have to say, I like the new and improved Routesy. My first impression: this is a whole new app compared to the free Routesy I’m familiar with. They’ve updated their icon, an homage to the old Muni FastPass (RIP) and added two new transit schedules: Caltrain and AC Transit.

I initially had some issues with the GPS map feature after installing the app, i.e., it didn’t seem to know where I was. But this was fixed by closing and re-launching the app. I think this was a fluke because the GPS has been accurate eversince. As for the app crashing, well, it happened twice, but that’s it. I don’t know if this was due to my phone having too many apps running or AT&T’s notoriously bad service. My guess: it’s a little bit of both.

One of the first things I noticed with the new Routesy is the GUI. It’s much better compared to the old version. The list of Muni lines is much easier to see and read. The new app now gives you a list of Muni bus/metro lines with a drop-down menu giving you a choice of inbound or outbound route, which will then give you an arrival schedule. In the old app, I had to choose a route first, inbound or outbound, then pick the bus line to get the arrival time. This could be just a matter of preference (since it’s the same amount of steps to get the schedule), but I like the new version better. It made more sense to me. The only thing I would change is for the drop-down menu to be hidden or close automatically after getting the schedule. Right now, after you’ve chosen a bus/metro line, it stays open, and there is no way to close the drop-down menu.

The bookmark feature that I love in the free app is the also in the new app. This is such a great feature and a time saver! My favorite stops right there, no need to look for them every time. I also like the “other routes” option and map that shows up on the Muni bus/metro line that I’m looking at. I like that it gives me a heads-up that while the 14-Mission bus I’m waiting for won’t be here for another 20 minutes, the 49-Van Ness will be here in 5 minutes, and it will take me where I want to go. I don’t know whether any of the other transit apps have the bookmark or other routes feature. I know my old standby NextBus.com doesn’t have them.

As for arrival accuracy and when I compared it to NextBus.com, the new Routesy is off by a minute or three, but this doesn’t bother me too much as long as I know the bus I’m waiting for is on its way.

Would I pay $5.00 for the app? The price is a little on the high side but reasonable considering you’re getting Muni, BART, and now Caltrain and AC Transit schedules on your phone. And if the developer keeps updating and improving the app, I wouldn’t mind paying $5.00 for it.

You can buy the pro version of Routesy 3.0 here, or download the free version (2.5.5, does not include many features found in Pro 3.0) that Angela refers to above here (links open in iTunes).

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If you liked this Muni diary, you might like:

1. Muni Diaries iPhone App Review: Routesy 2.0.2
2. Muni Diaries iPhone App Review: Smart Ride
3. Muni Diaries iPhone App Review: iCommute

As much as I’m addicted to my crackberry, I always get a case of iPhone-envy when I see new Muni apps. Since I’m iPhone-less, some of you volunteered to review Muniverse, a new iPhone app by Jamison Wieser (from Market Street Railway and the SFMTA Citizens Advisory Council).

Our reviewers liked the “clean and professional” interface of Muniverse and said that the app was easy and intuitive to use.  “Muniverse loads fast and has a clean, visually organized interface,” reviewer Kaylene says.

Muniverse has a list of most major Muni Metro stations and stops, and you can toggle to see all inbound and outbound arrival times. Our reviewers said that they love the Favorites feature. Kaylene liked that “all the stops I use daily are displayed together for easy planning. I love that the times are shown on the Favorites list.”

Reviewer John liked the Favorites feature because it shows “comparisons of different (but nearby) stops.” When he was at the Forest Hill station last week, he realized that he wouldn’t be able to quickly catch a 43-Masonic if he exited the station. He used Muniverse to figure out that he should continue underground and use the quickest line – in this case, the 19 – to take him to the north side of the city. “I have a lot of stops I frequently use near home and work but also have some alternative options. Cable Car or 1? 10 or 41?” He liked using Muniverse to cross-reference and do a quick comparison of which bus would be the fastest.

But John reported that the Favorite screen would sometimes crash the app when it was forced to display the arrival times for many stops at once.

Our reviewers pointed out more improvements that they’d like to see. Kaylene reported that Muniverse displays “Fetching…” on the screen even when there is nothing to fetch. She’d also like to see shortcuts that take you from the Favorites list to the stops list for a favorite line.

Reviewer Carina says that Muniverse only shows two upcoming arrival times per stop and she’d like to see more upcoming arrival times.

On reviewer Andrew’s wishlist is a “Near Me” button that shows all routes in any direction within a few blocks of the current location. “Often if you’re walking around SF you would like to know if there’s a bus nearby, and when it will arrive, but you don’t know what line it is,” Andrew says. He said that in all the current apps as well as NextBus, you’d need to know the line and direction before you can search for a stop.

If you’d like to try out app yourself, download the Muniverse app at the Apple Store.

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If you liked this Muni diary, you might like:

1. Muni Diaries iPhone App Review: Smart Ride
2. Muni Diaries iPhone App Review: Routesy Pro 3.0
3. Muni Diaries iPhone App Review: Routesy 2.0.2

Update: (Sept. 1, 2009. 10:30 a.m.) Since we first published this post, we’ve received a few more juicy bits of Muni merchandise.

First, as seen at SF Zine Fest, PunkPunk is selling FastPass buttons and pins (above).

At $5 a pop, get ‘em while they’re available. I’ll have a set of 12, please.

Then, niffx on Zazzle informed of these totally rad Muni curvy-logo shirts (perhaps the source of many people’s misguided belief that Muni is an all-cap acronym?):

These shirts are $22.75, so save your pennies and help these artists out. You’ll look good doing it, if we do say so ourselves ;)

Original post:

Muni Shirts by Walter Konig

The phrase “economic stimulus package” always makes me feel a little inappropriate. But say you have some extra cash to, er, help the economy — we’ve found some great Muni stuff for you to spend it on.

Muni Shirts by Walter Konig (of Walnotes) are based on a design that was sold in New York a few years ago. “When I saw them I wondered why they didn’t have them for San Francisco. So I sat in Cafe Abir and designed them. I used a Muni Map to figure out locations along the way,” Walter told us.

The shirts come in a variety of colors, many of them printed on American Apparel tees.

Buy Muni Shirts by Walnotes here:

Brand Fury (780 Sutter St)
Artist X-Change (3169 16th near Guerrero)
SoMe (Haight, east of Masonic)
440 Brannan

Walter said that Lower Hater (597 Haight Street) will have them soon, too.

More shirts and other goodies after the jump, including a really awesome hoodie with an old-school Muni bus print and buttons made from old transfers.

Headline Shirts just came out earlier this summer with a Muni shirt honoring (well, sorta) the 22-Fillmore. The company had a few tips on riding Muni, including one that blows the whistle on a certain Bay Area rapper:

No radios are allowed on Muni. Apparently that doesn’t apply to the linebacker-shaped gentleman who just sat next to you with his boombox. (We hope you like Too Short.)

Hey what’s wrong with Too Short? Anyway, carrying on…

Friends who went to last weekend’s SF Zinefest scored these cute buttons from Tanya Madoff, made from recycled transfers! Check out her line of bikes and buses button packs.

Oh, at the Zinefest, we also spotted some cool buttons made from old Fast Passes by the creators of the magazine, punkpunk. But I couldn’t find any online purchasing information. Anybody?

Here’s a clever classic by Greg Dewar at N-Judah Chronicles – I love the font, Greg. Greg’s got another fun shirt called The N Is Near.

dish on Zazzle has a couple of cool shirts with the SF Muni Railway shirt emblem.

Marksmallwood on Zazzle is selling some cool old-timey Muni magnets and tote bags. He’s got mugs, shirts, and even ties.

One of my faves has to be Amos Goldbaum’s old-school trains on T-shirts and hoodies. Just for kicks, here are Amos Goldbaum’s models looking incredibly American-Apparel-tastic:

Spot any other Muni-inspired merchandise? Got pictures of yourself sporting some Muni pride? Send it to our inbox, please! Oh, and if you’re a broke-ass like we are, we will be giving away some Muni Diaries buttons at our next spoken-word party, so stay tuned.

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Now that it’s come out of forced hibernation and I have a chance to pick this review up where I left off, I have to say — Routesy sure is one slick iPhone app.

I barely had a chance to tinker with it before it was taken off iTunes, following the much-covered flap between the app’s developer, Steven Peterson, and NBIS, a shady couple of dudes claiming ownership over the prediction data that helps power Routesy.

Well, that was all fine and dandy, but now Routesy is back, and perhaps owing to my sense of anticipation, it’s on top of its game.

This app is for locals, to be sure. When launched, it produces a long list of Muni routes. Muni nerds like yours truly could begin and end here, having a field day scrolling through the alpha-numeric route list. But the app is meant to give prediction times, so we need to keep going.

A navigation bar on the bottom of the screen lets you alternate between Muni, BART, or your saved bookmarks (more on those in a moment). On the Muni “page,” a top-nav gives you the choice between “Inbound” and “Outbound.” Very clear. But again, being a local and somewhat in the know means being aware of whether you’re traveling inbound or outbound. Not this app’s problem, but still.

Routesy is fast. Once a line is selected, you’re immediately taken to the nearest stop for that route and given a distance (always a bonus, as sometimes it’s just faster to walk). Once the stop is selected, you’re served a full course of prediction times for the next bus, nearby routes, and a map, which thanks to iPhone 3.0 software, loads seamlessly in Routesy. You can also opt to be taken to the Google Maps app, but I didn’t see a need for that.

Before you shut down shop, remember to bookmark that route+stop combination for future use. A small check-mark indicates the successful addition of a new bookmark

One thing I’d like to see all transit-prediction apps do is integrate prediction data between transit systems. Like, say I was going to take BART to 16th and Mission, but needed to get to 11th and Mission. Wouldn’t it be nice to know ahead of time about when to expect to get the bus that would take me those five blocks?

Or, imagine that you just want to know which is faster, BART or Muni (ha, yeah, we get it). It would nice to get predictions side-by-side, for comparison’s sake.

My other problem is the lack of route-planning, for those times when you’re not in the know, or for non-locals. Say you had no freakin’ idea how to get to Jackson and Steiner from Third and 20th (if I’m “out in the field,” I probably don’t). At that point, 511.org* or Google Maps are probably your best bets.

Easy to look at, easy to use, and with the added bonus of having BART prediction and bus-stop data built in, Routesy is a speedy, pretty must-have for all SF and Bay Area iPhoners. It is available on iTunes for $3.99.

P.S. It sure is nice to write about Routesy in a non-newsy way for a change ;)

* 511.org wasn’t loading at the time this review was published. Oh noes!

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It’s a crowded field, to be sure. But what if, just what if, some augur of reliability emerged from the crop to solve [most of] your woes? Here’s a first look at a series of apps that we’ll review here at Muni Diaries. Today, we’ll look at iCommute.

The first thing I noticed about iCommute was its groupings of routes (1-10, 11-20, etc.) on the right side of a list of all the routes, much the way iPhone apps like Contacts and iPod use “index-scrolling” (my term) for quick access to far-off parts of your list. It was then that I realized iCommute might just turn out to be a must-have app.

Like many GPS-enabled apps, iCommute asks your permission to use your location. Yes, please. Every subsequent use sensibly uses your location without being prompted. After you drill down to the route you want, it automatically highlights the nearest stop on that line, and tells you how far away it is.

After selecting your stop, predictions for the next bus are loaded (and they continually update as necessary), as are “other buses at this stop” and a Google map. Should you need directions (despite the fact that the map tells you where you are and where the stop is), you can press a button to be hauled over to the Google Maps app. I’m not sure why you’d want to leave iCommute, but there you have it.

Another great feature, as well as something else that makes iCommute so much better than NextBus’s decent mobile site, is the ability to add your “favorite” routes and stops. This makes accessing information about those routes and stops as easy as a click or two.

The program’s inherent functions (meaning those that do not require network access) are blazingly fast — testament to solid coding on the app developers’ part.

Like many apps, iCommute will only work as well as AT&T allows it to. And because it’s caught in a vicious triangle between Ma Bell and Muni, the jeopardy is doubled (NextBus is perhaps a third villain in the drama, but it, like iCommute, typically works only as well as Muni does). Then again, iCommute is a lot like Muni, though through no fault of its own: When it works, it’s so useful and you love it. It only fails when AT&T or Muni do. Available on iTunes for $2.99, I think it’s a pretty good deal.

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The drunk pubescent boy sways in the seat next to me: “blah, you and everyone has an iphone!” I turn my eyes into slits and ignore. Then the girl with the tiara starts screaming like a banshee, but several pitches lower – I dunno, like a manshee? banhe? She runs up and down the train, drunk and muffin toppy.

Read the rest of Denise’s post to see if the rowdy kids got their comeuppance.

Check out other popular posts this month: Tiffany’s hilarious clairvoyance into the mind of Guy Who Takes Up Two Seats and Tara’s interview with SFMTA spokesperson Judson True.

Got your own Muni story to tell? Submit it to us so your story can be in the running for the post of the month for May!

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