How to Get Where You’re Going

There are many great apps and services that provide you with directions to that restaurant, park or museum while you are visiting a new city. With these apps on your phone and Tunnel Time in your browser history, you’ll be a transit pro.

Transit

Transit is my favourite app when I need to get public transportation directions. While their availability in more than 175 cities worldwide is a fraction of what Google Maps offers, they more than make up for it with advanced features. Transit has live real-time position data of trams, streetcars and buses to let you know exactly when to leave or how much longer you need to wait. Transit also uses your GPS to send you friendly alerts when your stop is coming up (this has more than once saved me from missing my stop). They also happen to have a great blog where they write about new features including my new favourite: Offline Capable Trip Planning.

Moovit

Moovit is a juggernaut in the transportation services scene. Boasting over 400 million users and data sets for over 2700 cities, Moovit owes its success to its users. Users contribute over 70 of the station, route and line information for new cities. This makes Moovit “the Wikipedia of transit” as they call it. You’ll find all the features you expect from a transit app in Moovit, routes, lines, stations, real time vehicle location information (where supported) and more.

Citymapper

Citymapper is a route finding app that operates in 41cities around the world. Headquartered in London, UK, Citymapper provides route information, next vehicle arrival, ride sharing and bicycle & scooter options in those cities. Citymapper also offers a web app for those looking to plan their trip on a desktop browser.

Apple Maps