Rover - All Your SF Transit Options In One Place

http://blog.roversf.com

by davidd8 • 13 years ago

79 38 13 years ago

blog.roversf.com

arockwell• 13 years ago

This looks really well done. I've used a bunch of different transit apps in SF, and all of them are extremely awkward and hard to use.

I'm very hopeful I can use this app to replace nextmuni.com, which has always been slow and buggy for me.

davidd88• 13 years ago

Thanks for giving Rover a shot! Let me know if you have any feedback.

erik_p• 13 years ago

I can't wait to give this a try... I've been weekend hacking on trying to improve on the NextMuni predictions, because they're just so consistently misleading/awful.

davidd88• 13 years ago

You can try an in-browser demo at roversf.com - let us know what you think! Would also love to hear about your NextMuni prediction hacking!

sqs• 13 years ago

It would be nice if the linked page showed screenshots of the app.

davidd88• 13 years ago

Good point. You can try a live demo at roversf.com - let us know what you think!

timdorr• 13 years ago

The front page has a working demo. I think that's way better than a screenshot, personally :)

pronoiac• 13 years ago

Oh! The demo only appears above a certain width of the browser window. It's Chrome and Safari only right now.

derelk• 13 years ago

I've been using this for the past month or so, and overall I think it's the best app for Muni. The interface is not anywhere near as slick as the Google Maps app for example, but for transit routing it feels much more functional.

davidd88• 13 years ago

Glad you like it, we're always working on improving the UI.

Garthex2• 13 years ago

It looks like they don't support BART yet. You should probably change the title so it's not false advertising for those of us who are eager for more apps that truly support all sf transit options.

davidd88• 13 years ago

Hey Garthex! Thanks for checking out our app - Rover does support BART (with real-time arrival data), try routing to SFO for example. Let me know if that doesn't work for you - we'll investigate if something is not looking right!

jaredsohn• 13 years ago

I've generally had success (and love the app due to the user experience and integrated nextbus functionality) but I was getting a message "Rover only works for SF MUNI right now." a few times for a particular route between Berkeley and SF. So at the very least, that text should get changed.

Also, the headline seems wrong since it doesn't seem to support some transit options such as AC Transit. Although, likely the spirit of the headline is that it supports "all" kinds of transit options such as buses, Uber, and bike sharing, but I'm sure that is also incorrect (i.e. does it include ferries? cable cars? private planes? hot air balloons?)

Edit: Actually AC Transit is East Bay and the headline says SF options (rather than SF Bay Area options), so the headline isn't wrong because of that.

Mizza• 13 years ago

If you're on Android, I've found the best BART application by far is OpenBART https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pro.dbro.bart&...

kalvin• 13 years ago

I've been using Rover on iPhone for a few months and it's great. Prior to Rover the best option was using both Google Maps (great routing, but no real-time schedules for SF transit) and Routesy/Nextmuni (real-time schedules, but no routing)-- two apps for every bus trip. Muni buses are more often late than not, so Rover is solving a real problem with just the walking+transit piece.

It also has InstantCab/Uber/Sidecar integration now so you can compare $ and time across options.

Combine that with driving+parking, bicycling, and personal calendar data, and it'd be the killer one-click transit app I've always wanted. Can't wait to see you all build this out!

davidd88• 13 years ago

Thanks Kalvin, we're as excited as you are to build this out!

pidge2• 13 years ago

Are you guys planning to add the non-Muni transit agencies that run through the area too? (Golden Gate Transit, etc)

watterssn• 13 years ago

Nice I like the uber / sidecar / instantcab integrations.

For those who haven't Uber'd yet, get $10 off with promo uberfeb10.

ajju2• 13 years ago

And $5 off InstantCab with promo "rover"!

pidge2• 13 years ago

So, are you hiring?

ajju2• 13 years ago

I am sure the Rover guys won't mind much if I jump in and say that we [InstantCab] are!

Send me an email or link to your github or resume or whatever at aj@instantcab.com.

guywithabike• 13 years ago

One problem: It thinks that it doesn't take any time to walk from, say, Powell station to a street-level bus, so it gives you connections that you can't possibly make. This is the same problem that almost all transit apps have, unfortunately.

Edit: Also, it seems to give me really bizarre suggestions. Right now, for a trip to Alamo Square Park from downtown SF, it suggests that I take Bart from Montgomery to Powell (that's one stop) and then somehow catch Muni bus #5 in 2 minutes. A much better option would be to just take Muni bus #21 which comes past the Montgomery station in 5 minutes and heads straight to Alamo Square Park.

The quest for a good transit app continues, sadly.

Edit 2: More bizarre suggestions: From Montgomery to Alamo Square Park, it suggests this: http://imgur.com/bYLpJJI instead of taking bus #5 in 2 / 11/ or 19 minutes, which goes directly from Montgomery to Alamo Square. Also, it thinks that it takes 0 minutes to get off of Bart at 16th and Mission and make it to bus #22...

lubujackson• 13 years ago

I don't see why this should be so hard. They could use Google Maps to do the walking path and then just apply a default walking speed (or even let you set yours) to calculate walking time.

potatolicious• 13 years ago

Google Maps doesn't do depth or man-made obstructions to walking. The bus he's trying to catch is directly on top of the underground station, leading a simplistic walk estimator to give a near-instantaneous result. In actuality there are multiple stairs as well as a bottleneck-prone exit gate.

johns• 13 years ago

This is awesome. One nit: if I pick a route, then the bus leaves there's no easy way to 'refresh' the route and get a new timer without backing all the way out and starting over or going to more routes and doing the time math.

wasd• 13 years ago

http://roversf.com/ is down.

davidd88• 13 years ago

Should be back up!

starseedlure• 13 years ago

Cute robot. Useful app. +1.

drewwwwww• 13 years ago

what personal data of mine are you going to sell to support the continued development of the app?

ignorantremarks• 13 years ago

What makes you think they're mining your personal data? They could possibly have funding already, and are aiming for acquisition? Like Instagram?

bnycum• 13 years ago

Too bad I just saw the app, I leave SF in the morning. Been using a mix of Google Maps/Routesy/Transit. I do like the ticking timers of when the next bus is coming. It's been an awkward experience constantly refreshing the apps if I can manually. I do like the Google Maps because it shows markers for bus stops, I heard they have an SDK to use. Also I like that Google Maps will show you the stops on your route as well, helps to remember how many and what stops there are without constantly watching your blue do approach your destination. Just things I noticed as a "tourist".

dylangs1030• 13 years ago

This is a cool idea, I like it. Especially as I use public transportation a lot.

1. Add a more dynamic ETA calculator including 3 dimensions instead of just 2. What I mean by this is, I want to be able to roughly calculate how long I can go up 15 stories if my commute requires that. (This is stretching the boundaries of realism for a commute, but you see my point. It shouldn't say I'm there if the actual destination is somewhere above or below me.)

2. I know that these kinds of projects have their hands full with one location, but can you port it to NYC and other metropolitan areas? You have a great market in San Francisco but there are also plenty of options you could incorporate in your app for places like New York. I live in NYC so I would be inclined in this direction.

bravura2• 13 years ago

SUMMARY: Rover considered harmful. Its transit routes are always delayed for me.

I've been using Rover side-by-side with Routesy Pro and NextBus and Google Maps.

Rover has a great interface, and maps from current location to destination. Awesome. The only problem is that it always tell me that a bus won't arrive for quite a while, roughly 10 minutes later than reality. (Do you want us to sell you an Uber or other taxi option while you wait? Mildly suspicious.)

By contrast NextBus and Routesy Pro have terrible clunky interfaces, but at least their next bus estimates are accurate.

Current workflow: Use Google Maps to find the route and the bus number. Use NextBus to determine when that bus will actually arrive.

I would love Rover if the bus estimates were accurate, but sadly they always overestimate the amount of time I'll have to wait. No thank you.

I have removed this app, it has deceived me too often.

davidd88• 13 years ago

Hi Bravura, thanks for the feedback! Sorry about the inaccurate NextMuni times - we had an issue earlier that would sometimes make arrival predictions fail to update, but it should be fixed now. If you have a chance to give it another shot, we'd really appreciate it!

bravura2• 13 years ago

I'll give it another shot.

slykat• 13 years ago

How did you get the arrival time & price data from Lyft / Sidecar / Instantcab? Do they have a public API?

Rover - All Your SF Transit Options In One Place

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