Crowdsourcing Your Bus Wait-Time

January 28th, 2013 by Chelsea

It’s painfully chilly waiting for the bus in Minnesota these days, which makes even minor delays seem like hours. But knowledge is power and knowing that the bus is one, three or ten minutes delayed helps riders cope with the wait. Since most transit users don’t have ESP, the Moovit crowdsourcing app delivers just what you need to know via passengers already en route.

Moovit dubs itself as “social GPS for public transport” that allows you to choose the fastest and least crowded route based on real time conditions.

Crowdsource concept drawing via Shutterstock

We Minnesotans can’t enjoy Moovit just yet, but residents of Boston, Chicago, Washington DC, Baltimore, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Portland and San Francisco can. Moovit is also available in selected cities in Brazil, Canada, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.

Other cool crowdsourced maps and apps include this bike map of Moscow or this app for EV charging stations.

Getting what we want and need to know truly takes a village these days, doesn’t it?

Source: Planetizen

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Tags: Baltimore, Boston, Brazil, Chicago, crowdsourcing, DC, israel, Italy, Los Angeles, mass transit, mass transit apps, Moscow, netherlands, new york city, NYC, Philadelphia, Portland, public transit, Public Transit Apps, Public Transit iPhone apps, public transport, San Francisco, Spain, the Netherlands, Washington D.C.

About the Author

Chelsea is a former newspaper reporter who has spent the past few years teaching English in Poland, Finland and Japan. When she wasn't teaching or writing, Chelsea was traveling Europe and Asia, sampling spicy street food along the way.