Hasta La Gadget!

After a successful closed beta trial, mobile ticketing is now a reality for the multitude of mass transit riders in the Portland metropolitan area. The TriMet Tickets app is now available for iPhone and Android users, establishing TriMet as the nation’s first multimodal transit agency to offer smartphone-based ticketing across all of its operations — this includes the region’s commuter rail, light rail, streetcar and bus lines. The free app allows users to purchase either one or multiple tickets, which extend from 2-hour fares to 30-day passes. Tickets are verified with QR codes and on-screen animations, making it difficult for riders to game the system with simple screenshots. The mobile payment system is made possible by GlobeSherpa, a Portland-based company that also provides service alerts and backend fleet optimization for the TriMet system. BlackBerry and Windows Phone users can look forward to forthcoming versions of the TriMet Tickets app, and for a quick overview, you’ll find a tutorial video after the break.

Filed under: Transportation, Software, Mobile

Comments

Source: App Store (iOS), Google Play (Android)

It’s no secret how useful Google Maps can be when traveling in an unfamiliar locale — especially in regards to public transportation. The folks in Mountain View have tallied over one million stops for bus, train, subway and tram systems in about 500 cities around the globe with the software. To celebrate the achievement, Google has released an update to its Maps for Android app. Version 6.10 adds some tweaks to the Transit Lines layer in order to display just one individual method of transport and updated the station pages to display needed information like departure time and lines of service in a more accessible fashion. Also among the new additions are modifications to region highlighting, My Places and Location History. Now, when you enter a city name or zip code, the boundaries of that particular region will be marked for visual reference. For a full rundown of the latest version, hit the first source link below or sprint on to the second to grab the update.

Update: Oh look, Mountain View’s even tweaked the icon, which we’ve added after the break.

Continue reading Google Maps notches one million public transit stops worldwide, celebrates with an update

Filed under: Cellphones, Software

Google Maps notches one million public transit stops worldwide, celebrates with an update originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 15 Aug 2012 22:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Google Blog, Google Play  | Email this | Comments