
Show HN: Embark SF – A new Bay Area transit app - davidwhodge
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/embark-sf-bay-area-transit/id636196478?ls=1&mt=8
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rayk
Not mentioned in the Show HN, but they're YC S11. And aside from Dropbox they
are probably the one YC product I come into contact with the most often.

It's terrific how they got funded in spite of the difficulty of the difficulty
of monetizing this (at least, in the short term).

~~~
davidwhodge
Thanks rayk!

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unohoo
I am a regular Caltrain rider and here's my honest feedback.

First, to be completely unbiased, the app looks awesome and pretty slick - so
great job on it.

Now the challenges: 1) This app will be incredibly difficult to monetize
unless you reach significant scale and then use advertising

2) Most of the daily commuters in the bay area are either bart riders or
caltrain riders or muni riders -- as in, the mode of public transport they
take is fixed. As a Caltrain rider, i have never taken the bart in the last 2
years i've commuted to the city. And I believe vice versa is equally true.
Bart riders are unlikely to ride Caltrain regularly (discounting every once in
a while ride). Why am I saying this and how is it relevant ? Most of the
existing daily commuters have already downloaded free apps which provide the
schedules, maps etc. -- most will have very little incentive to download your
app, unless it provides some additional value above and beyond the existing
apps

3) This app could be more valuable for those who are visiting bay area --
although most of my friends who have visited bay area rent a car -- since they
plan day trips to napa, carmel etc -- while in the city, most just tend to use
cabs.

This kind of app makes a lot of sense for a place like nyc or london where the
subway and public transport system is much more complex and extremely well
connected. And where majority of the people use public transport. But even
then -- those whose daily commute route is fixed, the app adds little value,
IMHO. But I havent used it in nyc, so I could be wrong.

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SandersAK
It seems like most of the feedback here is about how they will monetize, not
necessarily how the app actually functions, no?

Can't speak for daily SF users, but as an NYC commuter who goes places other
than just work and home on a regular basis, Embark has been far and away the
best thing on my iPhone.

Also, my schedule isn't always fixed, so Embark is great at telling me when
trains are coming, etc. etc.

I agree that there's lots of transit apps, I've downloaded a lot of them, but
I end up keeping the Embark ones.

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unohoo
if you read through it, (2) specifically is about usage and adoption, not
monetization. commute in bay area is more limited to work and back -- most of
the folks in east bay and south bay dont use / rely on public transport for
their weekend travel.

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markbao
Embark NYC is absolutely indispensable and I used it to no end when I was
living in the city. Made getting around a breeze.

This SF one is awesome—new design and it includes BART and Muni and the rest
of the crazy set of transit systems in SF. Nice work, guys.

~~~
lquist
Agreed, the NYC app is awesome. That said, a UI consultation would probably
pay significant dividends. Affordances are not always easily perceived.

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davidwhodge
could you give any specific areas you had trouble with?

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davidwhodge
Happy to listen to feedback or questions about the app. As with any data-based
service, it's a work in progress and feedback is very valuable for making the
app better.

There's some more info about the app on our company blog too.

~~~
dsl
It's not in the iOS App Store? A search for "Embark SF" comes up blank.
Searching for Embark gives me NYC, iBART(?), DC Metro, etc.

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davidwhodge
A direct link will work. Searches for Embark SF should start working soon. I
think it's an app store CDN thing.

~~~
davidwhodge
Searching for Embark SF works now

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aweb
Why no Android support? That's too bad, this app looks awesome and the many
different confusing (for me) transit systems around SF could make it a huge
help

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w1ntermute
> Why no Android support?

See [http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/18/wheres-twitter-music-for-
an...](http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/18/wheres-twitter-music-for-android-why-
todays-tech-companies-are-still-going-ios-first/)

Personally, I'm happy with the Google Maps app. Its biggest issue seems to be
that no one is aware of its extensive directions capabilities, particularly
for public transit.

~~~
aweb
I'm also using it but I found the hard way that it misses a few bus line (such
as samTrans in the San Mateo county)

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prawn
Friend of mine here in Australia is the guy behind TransitTimes
(<http://transittimesapp.com/>), an app in the same field (iOS and Android).
He slaves away on his app and has support for a fair number of cities in the
US, Australia, Canada and a couple of others. I'd be interested to know how it
and Embark compare in terms of functionality?

He's actually in the US at the moment at Google I/O and hoping to meet up with
fellow hackers, but his Ask HN fizzled a bit
(<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5678888>). He's @hendx on Twitter if
anyone can spare time to meet up with him - he'll be over there for a number
of weeks.

I badger him all the time to do a Show HN and talk about the work that's gone
into his app, but he's too shy about it. Embark guys, can I convince him to
buy you a coffee and compare transit notes?

~~~
davidwhodge
sure. Drop us a line at contact AT ourwebsite.com

~~~
qzervaas
Thanks David - I'll be in touch

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SandersAK
Use Embark NYC religiously. Now i've got this one for SF visits where, lets be
fair, public transit is a gotdamn mess.

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kunle
I've used the Caltrain/Bart and NYC versions of Embark for a while - its
really irreplaceable. Jazzed to try this.

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pixelcort
This is great!

Please consider doing Tokyo someday. The only offline routing app for Tokyo
today is MetrO, which doesn't include a map nor timetables.

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27182818284
Hi,

I've been trying to ask developers about their platform choice whenever I see
a new app announcement.(Eventually I think it'd be neat to have a list
compiled) Is there a particular reason you chose iOS for your first releases
over Android? Do you plan on an Android version, BlackBerry, etc in the next
year?

Thanks in advance!

~~~
w1ntermute
> Is there a particular reason you chose iOS for your first releases over
> Android?

This article answers that question pretty well:
[http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/18/wheres-twitter-music-for-
an...](http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/18/wheres-twitter-music-for-android-why-
todays-tech-companies-are-still-going-ios-first/)

I personally think there's a huge opportunity there for skilled Android
developers. After someone else does the market validation and first few
releases, you can just steal all that work for free and make an Android app
that does the same thing.

~~~
27182818284
Thanks. I'm not so much looking for an article, though. I've started asking
this in each "new app" thread on HN that pops up. Eventually I'll post a
compilation so we can see what _real_ developers from lone devs to teams
actually have to say.

~~~
w1ntermute
What sorts of answers have you gotten so far? Have they mostly been valid
concerns, or are a lot of mobile developers misinformed when it comes to
Android?

~~~
27182818284
So far I don't have a lot of responses. What I have so far points to people
reading articles about Android taking over, but not seeing it in the streets.

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swang
Does Embark SF fix the problem with iBart where trains leaving from Fremont
would disappear 5 minutes before they actually left the station? Not sure if
this was ever resolved or if this was something on BARTs side to fix.

Also, any chance of an iOS 5 version? Thanks.

~~~
davidwhodge
We'll look in to that. It turns out BART often has issues with real-time data
at terminus stations. (like Fremont or the airport)

This is probably a source data issue, but we'll look in to it and see if we
can fix it regardless.

Also, we can't support iOS 5 unfortunately. We used a number of iOS 6 only
features in core flows.

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zeruch
Its not on Android, so...yeah. "On paper" it looks pretty good though.

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tingletech
rickrolled by itunes opening. I don't want clicking on a link to open up some
app I hate. Does anyone know how to disable apple.com automatically opening
iTunes? I'm not on my phone, and I don't sync my phone using iTunes....

~~~
w1ntermute
It's controlled by your browser, so check your browser settings.

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porsupah
Any plans for making it:

(a) Universal (b) only require iOS 5?

My humble iPad 1 would love to give it a home.

~~~
davidwhodge
A. What do you mean by universal? B. Sorry, no can do.

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porsupah
Universal = "native" iPad support, in addition to iPhone, in the same
application; rather than the iPad performing the usual pixel doubling of a UI
designed for an iPhone.

A moot point, for me, without iOS 5 support, unfortunately.

In any event, I'll happily note this as an option for friends, with those
caveats. It does seem to have a particularly thoughtful UI, which, plainly,
counts for a great deal.

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smgoller
No VTA support?

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davidwhodge
VTA transit data needs a fair amount of preprocessing to make usable in Embark
SF. It just didn't make the cut for the initial release. We're working on it!

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gojomo
I've paid for Routesy Pro; are there reasons to switch to Embark SF?

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davidwhodge
Routing and a comprehensive Bay Area transit map are some reasons. It's also a
free app so there's no harm in trying it out.

~~~
gojomo
The routing and vertical-trip, horizontal-later display of options are quite
nice, thanks!

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evertonfuller
Boston?

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davidwhodge
Embark has an app for Boston. Different design and focused on the T, so it's
rail only at this point though.

[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/embark-boston-t-mbta-by-
emba...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/embark-boston-t-mbta-by-
embark/id494522038?mt=8)

