TFI Live - Real Time Transport Planner App

bikeman1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120260923#Comment_120260923

Not really LX Flyer. I’m not too bad with apps etc. and didn’t figure it out. Also, where I am, I have multiple routes, showing me one route coming along is not what I want.

Surely showing all the buses coming along would be better? Now I have to navigate in and out of 5 routes to see if the bus is live and where it is.

breezy1985

The biggest problem is there is still no easy access and up to date disruptions section or social media communication from BE.

My bus is every 15mins. Often and usual a Saturday 1 or 2 of the 4 buses will be missing every hour all day because a driver is sick. Nowhere is this communicated.

A simple "hey sorry the 303 is down to every half hour today" would do but nope.

Update: Ironically happening right now as I got the bus. Only 1 of 3 buses an hour running on 303 all day. All cancelled buses showing as (scheduled) on the app. Neither the app, social media or website relaying this info.

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120261629#Comment_120261629

When I said it was simple, I was referring to the process once I knew how to do it. It doesn’t take long at all.

As to usefulness of a single route -v- multiple routes, well to be fair that’s a subjective view.

Many people such as myself have only one route most of the time and this is a vast improvement for me. Personally I don’t want to sift through multiple routes, but other people such as you will.

It’s a trade-off. Having to click on multiple icons on the old app to find my bus was a nuisance.

If you save the routes, it’s a matter of seconds to check each one.

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120261847#Comment_120261847

Yep that’s an issue all right.

Limerick doesn’t seem to advise the web team of disruption.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120262145#Comment_120262145

Ya I've noticed "cancelled" in other cities.

Citrus_8

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120260923#Comment_120260923

The fact it takes 5 steps proves it's not simple! You better check Trafi or Citymapper - these are simple. TFI Live is very far from being simple to use.

Citrus_8

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120261203#Comment_120261203

Other apps have a feature to show vehicles of any route on the map, looking at a particular road. It could be filtered to narrow down the results. TFI Live is poor with choices and still very behind from the modern apps. It's an embarrassment we don't have a proper PT app.

Citrus_8

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120262134#Comment_120262134

And what about the spines having 3-4 or more buses on the road? We can't see all buses' location on the map as it's limited to only one route.

LXFlyer

Well maybe write in to them and suggest that they add that functionality!

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120262145#Comment_120262145

Just had a bus go from 12 to 13,14,15 to 1. Had to leg it out of the pub down to the stop.

Not the apps fault I know but shows why no amount of colour or ease of access in the app will solve the real problems it has.

p_haugh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120262734#Comment_120262734

This was present on the TFI Realtime app, so hopefully they can add it back as a feature to TFI Live in due course. Or at least have an option of showing it on the map "departures" tab

Citrus_8

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120263017#Comment_120263017

That would be brilliant! I would also welcome them to tailor the design. But from the looks of it, they don't focus to design, rather to the functionality only which is too technical approach, sadly.

breezy1985

There is I noticed a future updates tab. So at least they know its a work in progress.

Citrus_8

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120263360#Comment_120263360

Thanks for mentioning. Within the app it says 'Coming soon' via the Menu and when I press, it opened their website with a list:

https://www.transportforireland.ie/available-apps/tfi-live-comingsoon/

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120263303#Comment_120263303

I'll take working functionality over "design" any day.

This app has a very diverse client base: me who uses the same route every day and just want to know the wait at my stop, vs me who's visiting the Big Shmoke and wants to know how to get to Kilmainham Jail or the RDS or whatever. If the focus is on regular commuters first, I think that's the right call. Behaviour shift from regular commuters will cut emissions faster than from tourists.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120263563#Comment_120263563

Also tourists and casual users are not going to download the app.

They will just Google it.

p_haugh

Tourists and casual users would more often than not just use Google maps. Which come Wednesday, should have access to V2 of the GTFS api.

loyatemu

no live train position in the new app - this is in the Irish Rail app so the info is available. No "arrivals" for train stations either; this is particularly useful at terminus stations like Greystones where you can tell if a outbound train is going to run by checking that the inbound train is on it's way. Again, the Irish Rail app (and 3rd party "Next Train Ireland") has this.

p_haugh

To be fair, the "live" positions in the Irish Rail app are often unreliable I've found. On multiple occasions the train passes the station on the map, yet it is still 10 minutes away! Seems it often reverts to showing the scheduled train location based in the timetable, rather than it's actual location.

It still of course should be present in the new app as well, mind you.

Citrus_8

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120263834#Comment_120263834

I personally, as a tourist, often download local apps. But I agree that most tourists would probably just use the maps.

Here, I currently use PT once in probably 6-9 weeks and still have a Leap, app and Leap auto-top up. However, I don't like TFI Live so possibly will use Google maps for routing and TFI app for a real time.

Citrus_8

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120264325#Comment_120264325

Even that the trains are late is very strange to me. Germany and many other EU countries manage to get trains running at a 30 sec punctuality. Why don't we get that here?

AlmightyCushion

I got a notification from the realtime Ireland that it won't be supported and to download the new TFI Live app. Is it not ready yet or am I missing something. If I open the map, no bus stops show up at all for me. Also the journey planner doesn't work at all. The spinner just keeps spinning and it doesn't show me anything else. It is just a bug, it looks pretty bad considering they are actively telling people to start using this over the old one.

p_haugh

Seems there is a server issue at the moment, it was working fine for me earlier this morning.

I'd hazard a guess there's some final backend processes being done before the API update tomorrow.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120270600#Comment_120270600

"If I open the map, no bus stops show up at all for me"

Are you in rural Ireland 🤣

Cuttlefish

Just downloaded the TFI live application

now only used it a few minutes and very very very (did I say very) disappointed

firstly everytime I open it brings up a map of Dublin then spends time refreshing to update to my location !!! Why the hell assume we are all in Dublin!!

Secondly I tried to load up numbers of favourite stops from the older application- no response whatsoever from the application

thirdly can’t even see designated stops on the map or live bus locations for buses in Cork!!

Anyone else seen this ??

AlmightyCushion

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120270622#Comment_120270622

It should really store the list of stops locally and just check if the list has changed periodically or when you open the app.

p_haugh

The app seems to be semi working now, still doesn't load realtime for me every time, but the stops are appearing again on the map.

dublinman1990

Does anyone here know what date when the Dublin Bus app will be removed from the iOS & Android app stores?

coylemj

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120311973#Comment_120311973

Why is it being removed? I like the timetables feature in the DB app far better than the one in the TFI Live app.

In the DB app, you can see a list of all departures times for the whole day whereas in the TFI Live app, you state a desired time, the app then gives you the next departure time and that's it. You can't quickly see all of the departure times between x and y times.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120313224#Comment_120313224

I assume they don't want to pay for 2 apps. I'm not defending that decision but I assume that's why.

Hippodrome Song Owl

Does this app say when a service is cancelled? I haven't seen that happen yet so not sure.

I'm finding the live bus position on the map very temperamental - it only seems to load about half the time. I have to keep closing the app and then trying again and it usually appears eventually.

LXFlyer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120315752#Comment_120315752

In the case of Dublin Bus or Go Ahead Dublin City services, if the controller has marked it off as cancelled, yes it does.

StreetLight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120315752#Comment_120315752

It absolutely does. I have seen it displaying so.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120315752#Comment_120315752

The app does have that feature but then it's down to your local tower. Limerick doesn't have buses that say cancelled ever but if the GPS is off you know it's been cancelled.

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120316252#Comment_120316252

Galway had gone as far as making buses cancelled in a way that was visible the old app.

In the new app, I've not seen the word cancelled. But I have seen some buses listed as scheduled and am wondering if that's new-speak for cancelled.

VG31

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120316319#Comment_120316319

Scheduled means there's no real time information. That might mean it's cancelled but I've often had buses with no real time still show up.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120316444#Comment_120316444

They do sometimes show up if there is a problem with the GPS or at certain times of day with a driver change but in Limerick if a bus says scheduled I wouldn't wait around for it on a cold day. 90% of the time it's not coming.

Mrs OBumble

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120316444#Comment_120316444

I actually saw scheduled and cancelled one the one screen for the first time today. Good to know Galway are still doing this, knowing what's actually cancelled was a big improvement.

brianc89

I've used this app a few times recently and I found the journey planner good.

One major issue for me though, I couldn't view my suggested route on a map. When I clicked "map" from within my "route details" page, it just showed me an empty fresh map of Dublin.

The walking section between stops is impossible to do, without a map, unless you know where the stop numbers are.

Citrus_8

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120348128#Comment_120348128

And after making these points, you still are thinking of calling it good? Imo, it's rubish, comparing to other similar apps in Europe or even North America.

ohnonotgmail

I used the app this morning for a trip to connolly. The time shown was 10.41 with realtime shown beside it. 10.41 came and went and it still said 10.41. The display in the station showed that it was delayed. So much for being realtime. The info was available it just didn't show it.

p_haugh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120348427#Comment_120348427

That's on Irish rails end to be fair, they're providing the data to the NTA which then in turn is fed into the app.

It isn't just an issue with TFI Live, even the Irish Rail app is prone to not showing the correct "real time" information, be it timings or the "live" train location.

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120348685#Comment_120348685

Well Irish rail had the data as they displayed it in the station so I think it is presumptuous to assume Irish rail were the problem. If Irish Raul were not providing realtime data for the train then the TFI should not be showing it as realtime data.

Citrus_8

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120350082#Comment_120350082

How do you know it was a real time info, not the scheduled (theoretical) time of departure?

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120350711#Comment_120350711

The app clearly wasn't showing real time info as the train was delayed and the app didn't show this. It did have the word realtime next to the time.

trellheim

this new app is really hard to use . Dublin Bus and the old TFI app have it beat in to the ground . I speak as mainly a DB user at the moment . I cannot see what on earth they had to throw out the old apps for

Irish Steve

I had the new app on my phone, and went to use it for real today to plan a trip from Ashbourne to Glasnevin, I've removed the app, and sent appropriate feedback to TFI, I'd seen comments about how bad it is, it's worse, there's so many fundamental bugs in it, and an inability to recognise things like a finger tap to identify a stop, an inability to be able to edit the name of favourites, and a complete shambles with stop numbering, so it can't recognise that in some locations, Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann share the same stop but use different stop numbers. It also won't allow you to tap on an intermediate stop in the suggested route to see where that stop is on the map, it's that fundamentally flawed.

Some of the suggested routings it came up with were only a stupid joke, I know the area, and things like 3 changes between Finglas and Glasnevin was one supposed option. Unreal, but I suppose we shouldn't expect anything else from people who don't have to justify what they do, or how they do it, it's like the old App that couldn't give a bus from the airport to Ashbourne if you didn't know the stand number it uses at the airport, because the search didn't work. This new app is pretty much the same, and it's gone, and won't be back on the phone any time soon.

thomasj

When you look up the times and the notice sign shows , you go into the notice and it shows up the diversions, or tries to ! The page doesn't scroll! Doh!

xper

Sooo, just punched in a journey planner search for a trip from south Dublin suburbs to Greystones and it’s giving me options based on what appears to be weekday timetables. The 84x is prominent in suggestions. Other routes departure times don’t match route frequency on Sunday. Have verified that the date being specified (visibly anyway) is 26/3/23.

is this a known bug or a special clocks forward ball drop?

Hippodrome Song Owl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120402789#Comment_120402789

I saw this issue yesterday, looking for journey options for today, Sunday. It was giving times on C spine that are for the weekday timetable. Totally useless at the moment.