Apple updates Plans, its map application, by adding an essential function: real-time display of Paris public transport timetables. Thanks to this, Plans can calculate in a more relevant way the journeys you make by metro, RER, bus and tram in the French capital. A function that comes at the right time for the Olympic Games.
Let’s imagine for a moment a situation that happens every day in Paris. You have just arrived in Châtelet by the RER B from Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport. And you want to go to the Eiffel Tower to take the pulse of the city. However, the Parisian capital has fourteen metro lines (not counting the Bis lines), five RER lines, thirteen tram lines, eight Transiliens lines (which are RER without really being one) and countless bus lines.
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To get by, you open your favorite map app and plan a public transit route. But you will not necessarily have the same route depending on the application. For what ? Because it does not take into account transport schedules in real time. Google Maps takes them. City Mapper takes them. But Apple Plans didn’t take them and was content with theoretical timetables. And when you are Parisian, you know to what extent this information can vary travel times. But that is no longer the case.
Apple Maps integrates real-time Parisian transport traffic
Apple is therefore catching up with an update to Plans. From now on, you will be able to calculate a route and an arrival time based on real-time traffic schedules public transport. If there are slowdowns, you are warned. In addition, the time you have left to arrive at the platform and the waiting time with the next train are indicated. By default, all means of transport are taken into account. But you can exclude it (even if it doesn’t really matter).
This new function is very good news, whether for Parisians or tourists who will visit the French capital. And there will be more and more in the coming months, as we approach the opening of the Olympic Games which will take place at the end of July. This update also comes the day after the compatibility of the Navigo Pass with the iPhone, a feature that has been awaited for many years. It’s high time to offer iPhone users as comprehensive route-related features as Android.