DC Metro

Next Train DC Metro is a well polished App that has a great, organized UI for telling users how many more minutes are left until the next train pulls into a station. Simply put, this is the nicest looking Metro App on the App Store, and does a great job showing the essential information needed when looking up a metro station. Combine that with an augmented reality function that shows the general direction of where the nearest metro stops are, walking directions to any metro, and the standard DC Metro map, and Next Train becomes one of the better DC Metro Apps available to date.

NextBus DC is an amazing App focusing exclusively on DC Metro area bus services that have real time tracking. In addition to providing said tracking, which is pretty accurate as long as the actual buses are running smoothly, NextBus has a great function that searches for nearby routes. In addition, NextBus has a favorites directory featuring both favorite stops and routes, allowing users to quickly look up when the next bus is coming. As far as an organized and accurate bus tracker is concerned, you can’t get much better than NextBus DC.

TransitGuru DC is a polished App that includes information on the Metro, Metrobus, VRE, MTA Rail, and MTA Bus systems. Some of the better features include walking and driving directions to the nearest metros, a built-in timer that can be set to go off at a certain time before a metro arrival and service advisories. Personally, one of the cooler features is the ability to download official transit maps, such as the WMATA Bus Map. Unfortunately, the program does not seem to handle such graphically rich PDFs well , as zooming in to a level where you can actually use the maps cause some slowdown. Otherwise, TransitGuru is a great app for those looking for one App that has functionality for the variety of DC transit systems available.

find a metro DC is a feature-rich App with a pretty simple UI. Featuring up-to-date metro and metrobus schedules, an estimated circular schedule and bus stop locator, delay notification, and a trip planner (with fare calculations), find a metro dc seems to be tailored more towards tourists, but works well with residents all the same. The metrobus feature is a little confusing at first(stop ID numbers are needed to use it), and it would have been nice to include walking directions, but overall, find a metro DC gets the job done well.

Next Metro DC focuses on getting the most important info to the user as fast as possible. Open the App and it’ll zoom in to the nearest Metro stop along with train arrivals. Add in a clean Google Station Map, offline capabilities, and station information (including service advisories) and Next Metro DC deserves to be an App for consideration.

Ride DC Metro is a great, simple App with good Trip Planner functionality, and easy access to the system Map, service advisories, as well as individual stations and scheduled arrivals. A few additions such as a fare calculator would be ideal, but overall Ride DC does a great job providing the basics for Metro travel.

DC Metro Map is a free, ad-supported app that simply features the official map of the DC subway system. The app works well enough as zooms and sweeps are done without any slowdown, but folks expecting anything more than a map should look elsewhere.

DC Way is an interesting App that incorporates some Metro functionality, along with a wide plethora of other DC-related info (museums, restaurants, shops, e.t.c.). This App definitely caters more towards tourists, and lacks the streamlined Metro and Metrobus access that most of the other dedicated Apps have. Still, DC Way may still be useful for folks looking to do some research for a vacation trip to DC.

InfoMaps is one of the nicest and well organized DC Metro map Apps around. Unfortunately, the lack of an actual time schedule, service advisories or route planner makes its use somewhat limited. Folks that are looking for an App to simply check out the Metro system at a glance may want to consider this.

DC Metro Now is a standard Metro App with access to real-time arrival data, the metro map, and service advisories. Honestly, the only thing that interesting about this App is its ability to push metro service advisories to your phone after you customize which lines at which times you’d like advisories sent. Otherwise, the App is pretty average.

DC Rails is a simple, metro only app with real-time arrival schedule, favorites, disruption, and a metro system Google map system. The most interesting thing DC Rails has to offer is that its map actually says specifically where each individual exit (for stations with multiple exits) is for each metro station. Otherwise, DC Rails has an average UI and functionality.