Review: NextBuses
by Robb Lewis
April 5, 2010
Overview
If you travel by public transport in the UK, specifically buses, you know how annoying it is to try and find timetable information on your iPhone. For a while now there have been a few apps to give you train times but nothing for buses. Until now. NextBuses finds your nearest bus stops, gives you times and allows you to save them as favourites for quick access at a later date.Features
- Find bus stops based on your location
- Scheduled and real-time departures
- Search by postcode, city or near to a train station
- Directions of buses shown on each pin
- Dual-pane map and list view
- Save stops as favourites
- Sort by destination or route
- Over 370,000 bus stops covered in England, Wales and Scotland
When you first open NextBuses, you will see a dual-pane view with a map at the top and a list of nearby stops at the bottom. Once the app has pinpointed your location, red pins will be dropped on the map to show you where the nearest stops are. You can press any of the pins to see the name of the stop, the directions of buses from that stop as well as pressing the blue arrow to see departures from that stop. Departures can also be seen by selecting a stop from the list at the bottom.
On the departures screen, by default, buses are listed by the time in which they are leaving the stop. Destination, bus number and departure times are listed for each bus on this page. Select a specific bus and you can choose to show only buses that follow the same route or ones that are going to the same destination.
If the city your in has implemented real-time departures, NextBuses will show it. This is indicated by a clock icon next to each entry, as opposed to the pen/paper icon shown for scheduled departures. NextBuses also offers a manual search option to find bus stops by postcode, a specific area or by train station.
If you use specific stops on regular basis, you can add them to your favourites by pressing the favourite icon in the top left. These can be accessed, deleted and rearranged from the main menu by pressing the star button. Another great feature is the ability to rename and assign an icon to a favourite. You can choose from 16 different icons including a bus (obviously!), shopping basket and a beer tankard. This makes selecting which favourite you want far easier than if it was just a list.
The Breakdown
The Good:
I can't vouch for all of the UK, but I have used the app all over the city I live in, as well as other places I've been to in the last couple of weeks, and every stop I have wanted times for has had full and correct information. Also, real-time departures are sparse at best where I live, but whenever these were available, NextBuses indicated this. Accessing the information you need in NextBuses is effortless and favourites can be managed quickly and easily, making access to specific stops simple.
The Bad:
There isn't really anything 'bad' per se about NextBuses but there are a few features I would like to see. The first is the ability to choose to open the app with either the dual-pane view or the favourites, as I constantly find myself going straight to my favourites. The second is the ability to switch between dual-pane, just he map or just the list on the main menu. This would be a great feature to make finding stops easier if you're in an area you know (list view) or somewhere you don't (map view).
