Go Transit App Updates

I have released a new version of the Montclair software, 1.6.0, that includes some major improvements to seeing estimated arrivals of buses at stops.

When selecting a stop, the app now goes into a full screen split mode with the estimated arrivals and the map. Clicking on one of the estimated arrivals will show you where that specific bus relative to your stop and will track the bus until it arrives. This makes seeing your next bus super simple!

This version will automatically roll out to your favorite “Go Transit” city app!

See Stops and Arrival Estimates in Go Transit Apps

I have been making several improvements to the montclair code base, which is the software that powers all the Go Transit apps.

Go Transit now shows the stops of the selected route
See the stops for the Highland #12

First, for the selected routes, you can now see where all the stops are. This helps people who are unfamiliar with the system know where to pick up a bus that is near by.

See the arrival times of buses for the selected stop
Stop Arrival Times

Selecting a stop on the map will show you the estimated arrival time of buses for that stop! This is a live view that is continuously updated as the arrival estimates change.

If multiple buses use this stop, view all their arrival times
Arrival Times of a Stop with Multiple Buses

If multiple buses go through the same stop, then the app will show the arrival estimates for all the buses. This is especially useful in cases where routes overlap and you have multiple options.

All of these changes have already been pushed out, and any apps you have should automatically update!

Announcing the Go Transit Apps

During a recent visit to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, I quickly became frustrated with the app for the free bus system. I thought to myself that it would be really nice to have my Montclair app available for other cities. With that, the Go Transit series of apps were born.

I started off building out github actions for the montclair, montclair-pwa-android, and montclair-pwa-ios projects. The github actions will automatically generate a compiled build when the repository is tagged.

The next step was to build a transmogrifier. The transmogrifier takes a configuration, then pulls down a specific version of montclair, montclair-pwa-android, and montclair-pwa-ios, and replaces all the necessary names, strings, icons, and other information. The new versions are then pushed to their own repositories and tagged, which automatically kicks off the white labeled builds.

All that is left it to create a custom configuration (see Steamboat for an example). The assets projects all have github actions too, and each time a commit is pushed, it will then run the transmogrifier.

When all the builds are done, they can be uploaded to my website hosting provider, the Google Play Store, and the Apple App Store.

So far I have created white label builds for:

Go Birmingham, AL

‎Go Birmingham
‎Go Birmingham
Developer: Marcus Dillavou
Price: Free
Unknown app
Unknown app
Developer: line72
Price: Free

Go Mobile, AL

‎Go Mobile, AL
‎Go Mobile, AL
Developer: Marcus Dillavou
Price: Free
Unknown app
Unknown app
Developer: line72
Price: Free

Go Steamboat Springs, CO

‎Go Steamboat
‎Go Steamboat
Developer: Marcus Dillavou
Price: Free
Unknown app
Unknown app
Developer: line72
Price: Free

Go Indianapolis, IN

‎Go Indianapolis
‎Go Indianapolis
Developer: Marcus Dillavou
Price: Free
Unknown app
Unknown app
Developer: line72
Price: Free

Go Raleigh, NC

‎Go Raleigh
‎Go Raleigh
Developer: Marcus Dillavou
Price: Free
Unknown app
Unknown app
Developer: line72
Price: Free

For more information, see the Go Transit App website.

Announcing Montclair for iOS and Android

I have taken my Montclair bus tracking web site and created an App for both Android and iOS that you can download for free in their app stores.

Montclair
Montclair
Developer: Marcus Dillavou
Price: Free

Montclair
Montclair
Developer: line72
Price: Free

This came about because I have been unhappy about how iOS handles progressive web apps. Every time the app is brought to the foreground, iOS does a full reload, which can be slow and annoying. The native app handles this much nicer, and doesn’t ever have to reload the state.

To build the native apps, I used this handy tool: Progress Web App Builder. It takes your website, wraps it using Cordova, and generates both an iOS and an Android project. With only a few tweaks, I was able to get them submitted to the app store.