Apple announced Apple Maps Real-Time transit for the Tokyo area, for real unlike last time. The fuzzy Japanese press release says there is real-time transit information for ‘more than’ 20 rail, bus and street cars…operators? Lines? Other than JR East and Tokyo Metro they don’t really say. So lines it is and there are many, many more than 20 train and bus lines in the greater Tokyo transit region that includes Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama. The only other data supplier Apple mentions is Public Transportation Open Data Center (PTODC) who have been on the Apple Maps data supplier list for years already in addition to Apple’s long time Japanese transit schedule supplier Jourdan. In a separate press release, PTODC outlines what they supply to Apple: Toei bus/subway and Yokohama City bus/subway real-time info, full list here.
So what do we have on launch day? So far we have real-time for JR East, Tokyo Metro, Toei Subway and Seibu but not Keio, Odakyu, Tobu, Keikyu, and Tokyu. Relative train positions show for Tokyo Metro, Toei and Seibu directly on the map and in the transit info sheet, but JR East only shows train positions on the transit info sheet. Buses are supposedly showing but only a few scattered lines have real-time information so far. In short, it’s a slow, shaky launch rollout with many missing pieces. Fortunately it should get better. JR East and Seibu issued a joint press release outlining their collaborative effort, aka RT-DIP (Real-Time Data Integration Platform) with Apple and the eventual incorporation of Keio, Odakyu, Keikyu, Tobu, Sotetsu data. Tokyu is not in the works.
Is it useful?
In its current launch day state, not really. Too many holes. But even when the holes are eventually filled, I don’t have much use for real-time transit in Tokyo. Not even in Google Maps which has offered Japan-wide real-time transit for years. The only use case I can think of is waiting for a bus, which I rarely do. It might be nice to know when a bus is running on-time or not, and the current position on the route. Train information is so plentiful and reliable in stations that I never need to check an app. It’s easier to look at a platform display.
When I do need an app, JR East app is more useful for my on-the-go transit needs: all I need to know is if some idiot became a train delay along my planned route and all the train line status for JR East and non-JR East is there in one screen. In the world’s largest interconnected transit system, Apple Maps Tokyo Real-Time Transit is the most unconnected app service out there. In its current state I can’t imagine any Tokyo transit user seriously using it. Time will tell.
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