Tuesday, October 13, 2009

TreKing - CTA/PACE Tracking App for Google - a review

Google Application of the month is TreKing, a Chicago public transportation app that you will quickly assimilated into your life. With live bus tracking times and the ability to routes and track destinations times, your hefty commute times will never be the same.

A recent move of mine coupled with car engine problems has made me public transportation junkie. And with all my doctors in the 'burbs, this app couldn't have come at a better time. I've been able to make all my appointments on time then get back to work with little to no disruption to my schedule. It beats driving in city traffic and dealing with parking. And best of all, I've been able to finally tame the dreaded Pace bus routes and schedules.

One thing worth noting when adding routes is its best to use the app with a computer nearby. The apps route finder doesn't have the most efficient input method; a much more convenient one would have been to use the phones address book directly, but built-in address book support has yet to be implemented. Also, Pace bus maps and schedules are all in PDF format. With the Androids lack of PDF support, TreKing users are doing themselves a disservice by not double checking their routes. So, until Google adds native PDF support to Andriod, it's best use a browser when saving routes.