Is it time to subscribe to a printer service from HP?

Ever since my dad brought home an...

What’s the best way of buying a phone today?

How did you buy your latest phone?...

MWC: What device highlights did you miss?

So, early last week I predicted that...

Use TubeExits to beat the London Underground crowds

Lance Stewart is the smart chap behind the launch of new iPhone travel app, TubeExits.

TubeExits is for the serious tube rider. It tells you specifically what carriage to board to make sure you arrive directly opposite the relevant exit on your journey.

I know Liverpool Street — Tottenham Court Road. I know those exits. I know where to board and exit. But any other tube station in London? No.

I would definitely use this app. I’m going to download it in a moment.

Lance actually visited every single one of the 268 London Underground tube stops, several times a day, to check his data was accurate. Committed, eh?

It’s not just useful, this. It’s business critical! It can, reckons Lance, save you up to 10 minutes per journey during peak times. I get that.

He’s thought of everything. The app contains a journey planner — that doesn’t require access to the internet — it’s all self contained. Good news as you don’t have web access whilst traveling.

Right now it’s only covering London but Lance has plans to extend the concept to other cities.

Here is the full list of features:

– Can be accessed anywhere, including anywhere in the underground station, on the platform and in the train.
– Covers every station on the London Underground. (Zones 1-9)
– Platform exit information provided for ‘Way Out’, line interchange, British Rail and DLR.
– Journey information provided for single or multiple transfer journeys.
– Users can save their favourite journeys for quick access.
– Get the reverse journey with a single tap.
– Journeys can be edited to add/remove stations or to change the required platform exit.
– Output includes train clear visual illustrating which Tube carriage the user should board.
– Users can download the Tube Map from the TFL website in order to view when offline.

The app is 1.79 pounds (2.99 normal price) at the moment. Go and get it on the iPhone App Store.

31 COMMENTS

  1. Tasty.

    but

    The classic 'Tragedy of the commons' played out on mobile.

    The early adopters will have a great time. Then, you'll notice more and more iPhone users in the same carriage. Then non-iPhone users will recognise the signs and follow the ones with the iPhones out.

    I give it 6 months before the carriages near the exits are so rammed you can't breathe 😉

    Then the developer will launch an app to track the carriages that *aren't* near the exits.

  2. Not really – because not eveyone is making the same journey. Not all the people going from, say, Waterloo on the Bakerloo line are going to Paddington. Also, there are typically a couple of exits from each station

    It would be interesting to see LU's figures on the distribution between exit stations though.

  3. 3 million people per day, most in a 2hr period = 1.5million/hr into Zone 1

    In a fully loaded Tube train, at peak hour, there will be people boarding and leaving in more or less equal numbers at Zone 1 stations.

    iPhone/iPod Touch penetration of tuberiders? er…5%?

    Full train = 1000 people

    iPhone/iPod Touch users per train = 50

    % of them with the app, once word gets around: er, 25%?

    Number of people who can comfortably stand near the doors that open at the exit position, ready to sprint out and get ahead of others exiting further down? – er…15?

    And they can't ALL be app users by that door. There will be an average distribution of normal folk.

    So by my verrrrry hairy maths, it won't take too many people using the app at peak times to render it not that useful anymore.

  4. Mike, I don't want it for peak times – sure it'll help but peak times are a lottery anyway, it only takes one person walking slowly up the stairs, or reading their book on the escalator … and the whole system feels like its crashing down.

    Also, peak users will know their stations (mostly)

    I want it for when I'm going to meetings, using stations I'm not familiar with. What normally happens is I leave too late (just one more email …), then as I change tube I have to walk the entire length of the platform to exit, arriving at the next platform just as a train leaves …

    Saving me a couple of minutes on that journey would be worthwhile.

  5. When I was regularly taking the subway in Toronto I ran across the “TTC Subway Rider Efficiency Guide” at http://www.ttcrider.ca/ which is basically the paper version of this app. Given that TO's subway system is quite a bit smaller than the tube it prints nicely into a creditcard sized booklet which you can keep in your wallet.

  6. When I was regularly taking the subway in Toronto I ran across the “TTC Subway Rider Efficiency Guide” at http://www.ttcrider.ca/ which is basically the paper version of this app. Given that TO's subway system is quite a bit smaller than the tube it prints nicely into a creditcard sized booklet which you can keep in your wallet.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Recently Published

Is it time to subscribe to a printer service from HP?

Ever since my dad brought home an HP LaserJet printer (version 3, if memory serves), I have been printing with an HP. Over the...

What’s the best way of buying a phone today?

How did you buy your latest phone? I'm asking because I'm thinking about what I should be doing. When I was living in Oman, I...

MWC: What device highlights did you miss?

So, early last week I predicted that next to nothing from Mobile World Congress would break through into the mainstream media. I was right,...

How Wireless Will Pave the Path to Neobank Profitability

I'm delighted to bring you an opinion piece from Rafa Plantier at Gigs.com. I think it's particularly relevant given the recent eSIM news from...

An end of an era: Vodafone UK turns off 3G services

I thought it was worthwhile highlighting this one from the Vodafone UK team. For so long - for what feels like years, seeing the...

Mobile World Congress: Did the mainstream media notice?

I resolved this year to make sure I wrote something - anything - about Mobile World Congress, the huge mobile industry trade show taking...