I was surprised to see Japan listed for real-time transit in the iOS Feature Availability page. It’s a recent addition (as of 2022-01-06) but nothing has changed in iOS 15 Apple Maps Japan transit directions, it’s delivering exactly the same transit info since the iOS 15 release, which itself was the same as iOS 14. Apple is slapping a new label on old product.
It’s helpful to compare Japan so-called real-time transit with other regions that have had it for some time: Boston, New York, LA.
Scheduled vs On-time departure
It’s very easy way to tell when real-time transit is real: upcoming departure time will display a colored network icon, green for on-time, red for delay. There are other real-time departure time notifications for updated departure-times and cancelled trains. This is the basic ‘real’ real-time transit benchmark.
More advanced Apple Maps real-time transit locations also incorporate train positions on the map and in the time schedule sheet but not all real-time listed regions have this (Boston does, NYC does not, etc.).
Apple Maps JP transit directions only show static scheduled departure times pulled from the transit supplier time table server, the same data since Japan transit launched in October 2016. Static ‘scheduled’ times do not update regardless of delay or stoppage warnings. The result is confusing, unreliable transit information that Apple calls ‘real-time transit’.
Google Maps JP, of course, does it real. Here’s a comparison of the different information presented by Apple and Google for the same delay on the JR Shonan-Shinjuku line. Google updates departure times, Apple does not.
Google incorporates live train positions and also include train car and station crowdedness information…all missing from Apple Maps.
As Apple and Google both use the same transit information supplier Jourdan you would expect them to deliver the same service quality, but this is not the case. Why? Google Maps incorporates real-time transit information from JR Group companies and private transit operators that Apple Maps does not. JR East for example supplies live train position and individual car information (crowdedness, temperature) that they use for their own app to the Public Transportation Open Data Center (PTODC). Japanese real-time transit information is readily available but Apple Maps does not go the extra step of incorporating this information.
Apple Maps Japan faux real-time transit appears to be the same situation for Taiwan and Hong Kong, both listed for ‘real-Time’. Taken together with the Sea of Japan deletion and other indications of (willful?) cultural ignorance, it’s another sign that Apple Maps is lost in Japan.
UPDATE 2022-03-22: Apple has removed Japan from Real-Time Transit. A sloppy mistake it seems, very Apple Map-ly.
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