Show HN: Embark SF – A new Bay Area transit app

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/embark-sf-bay-area-transit/id636196478?ls=1&mt=8

by davidwhodge • 13 years ago

39 45 13 years ago

itunes.apple.com

davidwhodge12• 13 years ago

Happy to listen to feedback or questions about the app. As with any data-based service, it's a work in progress and feedback is very valuable for making the app better.

There's some more info about the app on our company blog too.

dsl• 13 years ago

It's not in the iOS App Store? A search for "Embark SF" comes up blank. Searching for Embark gives me NYC, iBART(?), DC Metro, etc.

davidwhodge12• 13 years ago

A direct link will work. Searches for Embark SF should start working soon. I think it's an app store CDN thing.

zeruch• 13 years ago

Its not on Android, so...yeah. "On paper" it looks pretty good though.

kunle• 13 years ago

I've used the Caltrain/Bart and NYC versions of Embark for a while - its really irreplaceable. Jazzed to try this.

rayk• 13 years ago

Not mentioned in the Show HN, but they're YC S11. And aside from Dropbox they are probably the one YC product I come into contact with the most often.

It's terrific how they got funded in spite of the difficulty of the difficulty of monetizing this (at least, in the short term).

davidwhodge12• 13 years ago

Thanks rayk!

aweb2• 13 years ago

Why no Android support? That's too bad, this app looks awesome and the many different confusing (for me) transit systems around SF could make it a huge help

w1ntermute4• 13 years ago

> Why no Android support?

See http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/18/wheres-twitter-music-for-an...

Personally, I'm happy with the Google Maps app. Its biggest issue seems to be that no one is aware of its extensive directions capabilities, particularly for public transit.

aweb2• 13 years ago

I'm also using it but I found the hard way that it misses a few bus line (such as samTrans in the San Mateo county)

untog• 13 years ago

Their NYC app has an Android version. It crashes repeatedly. But aside from that it's not bad.

markbao• 13 years ago

Embark NYC is absolutely indispensable and I used it to no end when I was living in the city. Made getting around a breeze.

This SF one is awesome—new design and it includes BART and Muni and the rest of the crazy set of transit systems in SF. Nice work, guys.

davidwhodge12• 13 years ago

Thanks Mark! Hope it serves you well. Please let us know if you have any feedback for us.

lquist• 13 years ago

Agreed, the NYC app is awesome. That said, a UI consultation would probably pay significant dividends. Affordances are not always easily perceived.

davidwhodge12• 13 years ago

could you give any specific areas you had trouble with?

unohoo2• 13 years ago

I am a regular Caltrain rider and here's my honest feedback.

First, to be completely unbiased, the app looks awesome and pretty slick - so great job on it.

Now the challenges: 1) This app will be incredibly difficult to monetize unless you reach significant scale and then use advertising

2) Most of the daily commuters in the bay area are either bart riders or caltrain riders or muni riders -- as in, the mode of public transport they take is fixed. As a Caltrain rider, i have never taken the bart in the last 2 years i've commuted to the city. And I believe vice versa is equally true. Bart riders are unlikely to ride Caltrain regularly (discounting every once in a while ride). Why am I saying this and how is it relevant ? Most of the existing daily commuters have already downloaded free apps which provide the schedules, maps etc. -- most will have very little incentive to download your app, unless it provides some additional value above and beyond the existing apps

3) This app could be more valuable for those who are visiting bay area -- although most of my friends who have visited bay area rent a car -- since they plan day trips to napa, carmel etc -- while in the city, most just tend to use cabs.

This kind of app makes a lot of sense for a place like nyc or london where the subway and public transport system is much more complex and extremely well connected. And where majority of the people use public transport. But even then -- those whose daily commute route is fixed, the app adds little value, IMHO. But I havent used it in nyc, so I could be wrong.

SandersAK2• 13 years ago

It seems like most of the feedback here is about how they will monetize, not necessarily how the app actually functions, no?

Can't speak for daily SF users, but as an NYC commuter who goes places other than just work and home on a regular basis, Embark has been far and away the best thing on my iPhone.

Also, my schedule isn't always fixed, so Embark is great at telling me when trains are coming, etc. etc.

I agree that there's lots of transit apps, I've downloaded a lot of them, but I end up keeping the Embark ones.

unohoo2• 13 years ago

if you read through it, (2) specifically is about usage and adoption, not monetization. commute in bay area is more limited to work and back -- most of the folks in east bay and south bay dont use / rely on public transport for their weekend travel.

djcapelis• 13 years ago

  > 2) Most of the daily commuters in the bay area are either
  > bart riders or caltrain riders or muni riders -- as in, the
  > mode of public transport they take is fixed. As a Caltrain
  > rider, i have never taken the bart in the last 2 years i've
  > commuted to the city. And I believe vice versa is equally
  > true. Bart riders are unlikely to ride Caltrain regularly
  > (discounting every once in a while ride). Why am I saying
  > this and how is it relevant ? Most of the existing daily
  > commuters have already downloaded free apps which provide
  > the schedules, maps etc. -- most will have very little
  > incentive to download your app, unless it provides some
  > additional value above and beyond the existing apps

This is true for people who live outside of SF. But a lot of folks in SF do use public transit to get around. (Inside the city, Muni and BART interchangably depending on where I am, where I'm headed and when the next train/bus/whatever for different stops is likely to show up.) When I visit the south, east or other parts of the bay from SF, I use transit (BART, Caltrain, etc) most of the time.

It's called Embark SF, not Embark Bay Area. I think that was a good choice.

smgoller• 13 years ago

No VTA support?

davidwhodge12• 13 years ago

VTA transit data needs a fair amount of preprocessing to make usable in Embark SF. It just didn't make the cut for the initial release. We're working on it!

271828182843• 13 years ago

Hi,

I've been trying to ask developers about their platform choice whenever I see a new app announcement.(Eventually I think it'd be neat to have a list compiled) Is there a particular reason you chose iOS for your first releases over Android? Do you plan on an Android version, BlackBerry, etc in the next year?

Thanks in advance!

w1ntermute4• 13 years ago

> Is there a particular reason you chose iOS for your first releases over Android?

This article answers that question pretty well: http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/18/wheres-twitter-music-for-an...

I personally think there's a huge opportunity there for skilled Android developers. After someone else does the market validation and first few releases, you can just steal all that work for free and make an Android app that does the same thing.

271828182843• 13 years ago

Thanks. I'm not so much looking for an article, though. I've started asking this in each "new app" thread on HN that pops up. Eventually I'll post a compilation so we can see what real developers from lone devs to teams actually have to say.

SandersAK2• 13 years ago

Use Embark NYC religiously. Now i've got this one for SF visits where, lets be fair, public transit is a gotdamn mess.

gojomo2• 13 years ago

I've paid for Routesy Pro; are there reasons to switch to Embark SF?

davidwhodge12• 13 years ago

Routing and a comprehensive Bay Area transit map are some reasons. It's also a free app so there's no harm in trying it out.

gojomo2• 13 years ago

The routing and vertical-trip, horizontal-later display of options are quite nice, thanks!

pixelcort• 13 years ago

This is great!

Please consider doing Tokyo someday. The only offline routing app for Tokyo today is MetrO, which doesn't include a map nor timetables.

porsupah2• 13 years ago

Any plans for making it:

(a) Universal (b) only require iOS 5?

My humble iPad 1 would love to give it a home.

davidwhodge12• 13 years ago

A. What do you mean by universal? B. Sorry, no can do.

porsupah2• 13 years ago

Universal = "native" iPad support, in addition to iPhone, in the same application; rather than the iPad performing the usual pixel doubling of a UI designed for an iPhone.

A moot point, for me, without iOS 5 support, unfortunately.

In any event, I'll happily note this as an option for friends, with those caveats. It does seem to have a particularly thoughtful UI, which, plainly, counts for a great deal.

tingletech• 13 years ago

rickrolled by itunes opening. I don't want clicking on a link to open up some app I hate. Does anyone know how to disable apple.com automatically opening iTunes? I'm not on my phone, and I don't sync my phone using iTunes....

w1ntermute4• 13 years ago

It's controlled by your browser, so check your browser settings.

evertonfuller• 13 years ago

Boston?

prawn2• 13 years ago

Have you tried TransitTimes? http://transittimesapp.com/boston-public-transit-app.html

Office mate of mine built it.

davidwhodge12• 13 years ago

Embark has an app for Boston. Different design and focused on the T, so it's rail only at this point though.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/embark-boston-t-mbta-by-emba...

swang• 13 years ago

Does Embark SF fix the problem with iBart where trains leaving from Fremont would disappear 5 minutes before they actually left the station? Not sure if this was ever resolved or if this was something on BARTs side to fix.

Also, any chance of an iOS 5 version? Thanks.

davidwhodge12• 13 years ago

We'll look in to that. It turns out BART often has issues with real-time data at terminus stations. (like Fremont or the airport)

This is probably a source data issue, but we'll look in to it and see if we can fix it regardless.

Also, we can't support iOS 5 unfortunately. We used a number of iOS 6 only features in core flows.

prawn2• 13 years ago

Friend of mine here in Australia is the guy behind TransitTimes (http://transittimesapp.com/), an app in the same field (iOS and Android). He slaves away on his app and has support for a fair number of cities in the US, Australia, Canada and a couple of others. I'd be interested to know how it and Embark compare in terms of functionality?

He's actually in the US at the moment at Google I/O and hoping to meet up with fellow hackers, but his Ask HN fizzled a bit (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5678888). He's @hendx on Twitter if anyone can spare time to meet up with him - he'll be over there for a number of weeks.

I badger him all the time to do a Show HN and talk about the work that's gone into his app, but he's too shy about it. Embark guys, can I convince him to buy you a coffee and compare transit notes?

davidwhodge12• 13 years ago

sure. Drop us a line at contact AT ourwebsite.com

qzervaas• 13 years ago

Thanks David - I'll be in touch

Show HN: Embark SF – A new Bay Area transit app

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