One of the neatest things about developing new apps for Smart Phones is the ability to create user friendly conveniences for others to use. That’s what Buffalonian Eric Harty was thinking when he created an app that tracks departure times for the Metro Rail trains. “The app automatically selects the proper schedule for the day,” says Eric. “And allows for sorting options, and also shows a map of the full light rail line. Additionally the app only needs to be synced once a month, and can otherwise be used without an active internet connection.”
At this point, this is the only app of this nature for the BlackBerry, which is another reason that Eric wanted to create the convenience. “Technically there are other apps on Android,” Eric explains. “But they don’t treat make any attempt to show useful data and instead are just still images of either the map or the time tables. And to be 100% fair some of this information is also included in more general apps such as Google Maps. I was inspired to write this app because while the NFTA supplies all of the required data, I also saw that Buffalo lacked the mobile apps that are available for cities like New York and San Francisco. After holding onto this idea for a little while, the push to finally get around to coding the app came last fall in order to include the app in the AT&T Western New York Civic App Challenge. Unfortunately the app did not come away with any of the prizes, but I still feel that it can do some good helping out the residents of Buffalo.”