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Dublin Bus app gone?

  • 06-01-2019 12:29am
    #1
    Tar.Aldarion
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,082 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    I got a new phone and there is no option to add this from the store. Works fine on my old phone.

    Title should say Dublin.


Comments

  • #2
    Stephen15
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,907 ✭✭✭Stephen15


    It is taken down after a period of time without an update. There are other superior apps out there such as RTPI Ireland which has all DB, GAI, Dart and Luas on it aswell as Moovit and Next Bus Dublin. Honestly the DB app is pretty rubbish imho. It should be removed for good now GAI are up and running.


  • #3
    Tar.Aldarion
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,082 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tar.Aldarion


    Stephen15 wrote: »
    It is taken down after a period of time without an update. There are other superior apps out there such as RTPI Ireland which has all DB, GAI, Dart and Luas on it aswell as Moovit and Next Bus Dublin. Honestly the DB app is pretty rubbish imho. It should be removed for good now GAI are up and running.
    I much prefer the Dublin bus app over next bus Dublin, I asked a few people here and they've all noticed the Dublin bus app is gone and they were annoyed about it too.


    I haven't tried the RTPI app as it has such poor ratings (2.7). Will try some of these alternatives thanks.


  • #4
    ED E
    Registered Users Posts: 36,163 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    Its been ~180 days and the Google Maps integration STILL isnt fixed. Situations vacant in DB IT Dept. Joke.

    The TII apps are worse btw. How they managed to be worse than DB I'll never know.


  • #5
    Victor
    Registered Users Posts: 78,234 ✭✭✭✭Victor


    ED E wrote: »
    The TII apps are worse btw. How they managed to be worse than DB I'll never know.
    Possibly down to (historical) budgets.


  • #6
    Tar.Aldarion
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,082 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tar.Aldarion


    Awesome, thank you!


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  • #7
    LuckyLloyd
    Registered Users Posts: 36,079 ✭✭✭✭LuckyLloyd


    Stephen15 wrote: »
    It is taken down after a period of time without an update. There are other superior apps out there such as RTPI Ireland which has all DB, GAI, Dart and Luas on it aswell as Moovit and Next Bus Dublin. Honestly the DB app is pretty rubbish imho. It should be removed for good now GAI are up and running.

    Important to note a disagreement with the above opinion. I find the DB app far superior to alternatives.


  • #8
    StreetLight
    Registered Users Posts: 1,386 ✭✭✭StreetLight


    This is not the first time this has happened. You'd think they'd put some sort of procedure in place to prevent a repeat.


  • #9
    Stephen15
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,907 ✭✭✭Stephen15


    LuckyLloyd wrote: »
    Important to note a disagreement with the above opinion. I find the DB app far superior to alternatives.

    I don't find there's much difference tbh but the TFI app is better as it has real time for all modes of public transport. I have to use it anyway as some the buses in my area are GAI operated.


  • #10
    Lord Glentoran
    Closed Accounts Posts: 876 ✭✭✭Lord Glentoran


    Stephen15 wrote: »
    I don't find there's much difference tbh but the TFI app is better as it has real time for all modes of public transport. I have to use it anyway as some the buses in my area are GAI operated.

    Has anyone found any more glitches in TFI, like the one that encouraged travellers to get a bus to Dundalk and change to a non existent one that took thirty seconds or something to dump them somewhere off the Falls? :D


  • #11
    L1011
    Moderators, Business & Finance Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 67,521 Mod ✭✭✭✭L1011


    At some point the data APIs behind the old app will be closed off, plus it's missing the GAI routes already


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  • #12
    CPTM
    Registered Users Posts: 1,296 ✭✭✭CPTM


    I've definitely noticed that the other dublin bus apps seem to have real-time information only 50% of the time, and the rest of the time they seem to calculate expected arrival time based on timetables which is completely useless.

    The dublin bus app however always has real-time info, which might not be exact in terms of minutes until arrival, but when you check the bus stop previous to yours to see when the bus is Due and then disappears, at least you know where it is on the road and makes arrival moment easier to predict.

    It's also possible to access the information on Dublin Bus's website (They have a mobile site now) with the same appearance and functionality.

    http://www.dublinbus.ie/DublinBus-Mobile/RTPI/


  • #13
    jackofalltrades
    Registered Users Posts: 3,233 ✭✭✭jackofalltrades


    Tar.Aldarion wrote: »
    I got a new phone and there is no option to add this from the store. Works fine on my old phone.

    Title should say Dublin.
    Fair play for starting this thread.
    Got a new phone myself and wasn't liking the idea of not having this app.


  • #14
    ED E
    Registered Users Posts: 36,163 ✭✭✭✭ED E


    Stephen15 wrote: »
    I don't find there's much difference tbh but the TFI app is better as it has real time for all modes of public transport. I have to use it anyway as some the buses in my area are GAI operated.

    Its not. Its f'cked.


    DB App:
    Find Stop, 13 mins to bus, start to leave
    Reply to text
    Set music playing
    Return to app, 9 mins to bus, out the door

    TII App:
    Find Stop, 13 mins to bus, start to leave
    Reply to text
    Set music playing
    Return to app - greeted by main f'ckin screen again. Archaic lazy development. Holding state (intents) isnt hard, 1st year CS students can do it.


  • #15
    p_haugh
    Registered Users Posts: 1,115 ✭✭✭p_haugh


    The RTPI website is also a good backup (rtpi.ie).

    Defaults each time, but you can have it default to your 'home' location if you want. Also you need the stop number of the stop you want.

    It's still good though as it even says if a bus was cancelled. It's pretty much a visualisation of the exact data that gets thrown up on the RTPI poles.


  • #16
    sharper
    Registered Users Posts: 1,216 ✭✭✭sharper


    My favourite has always been Next Bus Dublin which has both free and pay versions.

    The UI is quite nice and lets you do things like select a bus on RTPI and create an alert when it's X minutes away.


  • #17
    CPTM
    Registered Users Posts: 1,296 ✭✭✭CPTM


    sharper wrote: »
    My favourite has always been Next Bus Dublin which has both free and pay versions.

    The UI is quite nice and lets you do things like select a bus on RTPI and create an alert when it's X minutes away.

    Does it always have the real-time expected arrival? (Or 99% of the time I mean, aside from the odd outage)


  • #18
    sharper
    Registered Users Posts: 1,216 ✭✭✭sharper


    CPTM wrote: »
    Does it always have the real-time expected arrival? (Or 99% of the time I mean, aside from the odd outage)

    As far as I know he uses the Dublin Bus APIs for the dublin bus routes and Transport for Ireland for GAI so the times should always match what's in those apps.

    You can choose to display it as the time of arrival or relative to now (i.e. in 8 minutes)


  • #19
    smackyB
    Registered Users Posts: 747 ✭✭✭smackyB


    sharper wrote: »
    As far as I know he uses the Dublin Bus APIs for the dublin bus routes and Transport for Ireland for GAI so the times should always match what's in those apps.

    You can choose to display it as the time of arrival or relative to now (i.e. in 8 minutes)

    Hello, author of Next Bus Dublin here. Yes this is correct, if the stop is served by any GAI routes it will pull times from TFI but if it is served solely by DB it will pull times from the DB server. There’s also an option in the app settings to force it to only use TFI or DB for all stops.

    I know some of you are partial to the old official app which has disappeared in the last few months. If there are any features from it that you’d like to see in my app do let me know. Also, as of a few weeks ago Next Bus Dublin is available on iOS too so give it a spin if you have an Apple device and leave a review if you like it!


  • #20
    Franz Von Peppercorn
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,070 ✭✭✭Franz Von Peppercorn


    CPTM wrote: »
    I've definitely noticed that the other dublin bus apps seem to have real-time information only 50% of the time, and the rest of the time they seem to calculate expected arrival time based on timetables which is completely useless.

    The dublin bus app however always has real-time info, which might not be exact in terms of minutes until arrival, but when you check the bus stop previous to yours to see when the bus is Due and then disappears, at least you know where it is on the road and makes arrival moment easier to predict.

    It's also possible to access the information on Dublin Bus's website (They have a mobile site now) with the same appearance and functionality.

    http://www.dublinbus.ie/DublinBus-Mobile/RTPI/

    Thanks. The app was clearly a wrapper around a web page anyway, except for location handling.

    They seem to be using a development version of google maps.


  • #21
    harringtonp
    Registered Users Posts: 2,563 ✭✭✭harringtonp


    Well here is a new one:

    https://yourstop.info

    Unfortunately due to the nature of the application, schedules are only currently supported in Ireland.

    But in my opinion anyway (and being the creator I am admittedly biased) it is still useful in spite of that limitation


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  • #22
    p_haugh
    Registered Users Posts: 1,115 ✭✭✭p_haugh


    Saw this response on twitter.
    Heres to hoping this "new" app isn't just a reupload of the same garbage, and that it actually is released in April.


  • #23
    Csalem
    Registered Users Posts: 2,879 ✭✭✭Csalem


    I would highly recommend Offi. It works in Ireland, UK and most of Europe. It also lets you download local transport maps and has a journey planner:
    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.schildbach.oeffi&hl=en_IE

    It lets you search by bus stop name but not by rtpi number. It primarily works based on your location and have always found it to be accurate - even shows if bus is late or early.


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