Navigating Saskatoon’s transit system is easier now than ever before. This is because CollegeMobile’s new iPhone application, Saskatoon Transit Touch & Go, which provides better access to information about the city’s bus routes and schedules, launched Oct. 2.

In 2009, University of Saskatchewan graduate Chad Jones created the the first app for university students in Canada, iUsask, while teaching Canada’s first smartphone app programming course at the U of S.

The success of the iUsask app led him to found CollegeMobile, a company that specializes in custom smartphone and tablet apps for the education, finance and healthcare industries.

The need for a transit app for Saskatoon was highlighted when the latest operating system for the iPhone was released this September and the Transit function of the Google Maps app had been removed, Jones, now the CEO of CollegeMobile, explained.

He said that his company’s latest app, Saskatoon Transit Touch & Go, is the only iPhone app that has easy, fast and free access to transit information for Saskatoon.

“There is no alternative any more,” Jones said. “You can’t use Google Transit or the maps application to give you transit directions.”

Created by Jones and his team of developers, which includes a current U of S student, the Touch & Go app uses the bus schedules available on the city’s Click & Go website.

The Touch & Go app indicates your location by using your phone’s GPS and shows nearby bus stops. The scheduled arrival time of the bus you select will be shown along with a countdown to its arrival. The app will also show the entire bus route, including stops and the bus’ direction.

However, the app is not able to predict whether a bus will be earlier or later than its scheduled time of arrival.

Jones said that the City of Saskatoon is looking into installing GPS tracking devices onto the busses to create a more accurate scheduling system.

According to Jones, GPS tracking devices would allow riders to check exactly where the bus is.

The app also allows users to favourite the routes they use most.

“It makes it really easy,” Jones said. “You’re only one touch away from the schedule of the bus you care about.”

Saskatoon Transit Touch & Go also includes a reminder system that will send a notification through the phone even when the app is not running. The app gives fare and other information as well.

The app is currently still under revision by Apple but CollegeMobile expects it will be available for download for free from the iTunes App Store sometime after Thanksgiving.

Jones said that, although Saskatoon is the first city to get its own CollegeMobile transit app, his company will likely develop apps of this kind for other cities.

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Image: Supplied