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As Popular Metro Watchdog App Shuts Down, Transit Agency Promises More Transparency On Service
That's too bad. This is a great app.
FEB 10, 8:57 AM
As Popular Metro Watchdog App Shuts Down, Transit Agency Promises More Transparency On Service Performance
Jordan Pascale
MetroHero has been a popular app that predicts train times for the past eight years.
Tyrone Turner / DCist/WAMU
MetroHero, one of the most praised real-time arrival apps for Metrorail and bus service, is ending its eight-year run in July.
The app distinguished itself by showing exactly where trains were on the line, highlighting Metrorail and bus performance statistics, and allowing users to mark trains that had hot cars or crowding or disruptive passengers. ... It also maintained an archive of historical data on rail trips, which has been valuable to journalists and other Metro watchers after crashes, derailments, and other incidents. You could see the exact times when trains passed through a station, and the train number, which was vital to deciphering radio communications during emergencies.
Its dashboard also shows average wait times, how closely trains were adhering to schedules on each line, and the number of eight-car trains in service, among other items. Advocates and regular people have used the data to hold Metro accountable. It’s data that they otherwise wouldn’t have access to.
But now, Metro is promising to deliver a similar customer-facing web-based dashboard in the coming months. ... In a blog post, MetroHero developers James and Jen Pizzurro said the technology landscape was different back in 2015. The app used Metro’s publicly available data but made it easy to digest.
{snip}
As Popular Metro Watchdog App Shuts Down, Transit Agency Promises More Transparency On Service Performance
Jordan Pascale
MetroHero has been a popular app that predicts train times for the past eight years.
Tyrone Turner / DCist/WAMU
MetroHero, one of the most praised real-time arrival apps for Metrorail and bus service, is ending its eight-year run in July.
Link to tweet
The app distinguished itself by showing exactly where trains were on the line, highlighting Metrorail and bus performance statistics, and allowing users to mark trains that had hot cars or crowding or disruptive passengers. ... It also maintained an archive of historical data on rail trips, which has been valuable to journalists and other Metro watchers after crashes, derailments, and other incidents. You could see the exact times when trains passed through a station, and the train number, which was vital to deciphering radio communications during emergencies.
Its dashboard also shows average wait times, how closely trains were adhering to schedules on each line, and the number of eight-car trains in service, among other items. Advocates and regular people have used the data to hold Metro accountable. It’s data that they otherwise wouldn’t have access to.
But now, Metro is promising to deliver a similar customer-facing web-based dashboard in the coming months. ... In a blog post, MetroHero developers James and Jen Pizzurro said the technology landscape was different back in 2015. The app used Metro’s publicly available data but made it easy to digest.
{snip}