CU Buses

CU Buses is the easiest way to get around with the Champaign–Urbana Mass Transit District (CUMTD). It’s an app that runs on iPhone and iPod touch.

Features

• Immediately see the bus stops closest to you, or pan around to check the service anywhere in town
• Mark bus stops as favorites and access them with one tap
• See which stops are iStops, where you don’t need to pay a fare or show your ID to board
• Plan trips between any two points in town: bus stops, addresses, or “wherever I am right now”
  • Plan trips “right now” or at a certain time in the future
  • View your itinerary on a map, with bus lines and walking routes clearly marked
  • E-mail a planned trip to a friend (or to yourself for future reference)
• Don’t worry that you’re waiting on the wrong side of an intersection—CU Buses will tell you exactly where the bus boards, and it can even show you on a map
• The app automatically adapts to service changes like schedule tweaks, new bus stops, and new routes

CU Buses requires iOS 5.1, and runs on iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, and iPhone 5, as well as the third-, fourth-, and fifth-generation iPod touch. (You’ll need to have an internet connection too.)

Support

Please e-mail the developer with any questions or bug reports. Your feedback is appreciated!

Version History

Version 1.3 (March 26, 2013)

• CU Buses now tells you which of the buses from a stop use iStops, where you don’t have to pay a fare or show your ID to ride.
• The map type (i.e. Standard or Hybrid) is now part of the Settings instead of being displayed in every map. This gets rid of visual clutter and improves accessibility
• Improved VoiceOver compatibility in navigation results
• A long-standing bug that caused crashes when trying to choose an origin or a destination in the Navigation tab. Yay!
• A bunch of small bugs and crashes

▸ Show previous versions

Version 1.2.1 (September 26, 2012)

• CU Buses is now compatible with iOS 6, the iPhone 5, and the new iPod touch. (CU Buses now requires iOS 5.1, which is a free update for everyone using iOS 5.0.)
• CU Buses now provides bus navigation to complement the built-in Maps app in iOS 6
• “Hybrid” is now the default map style. (You can still switch to “Standard” or “Satellite” if you’d prefer.)
• Improved VoiceOver accessibility
• Many small fixes and visual improvements
• Navigation errors might have been shown even after they were no longer applicable

Version 1.2 (June 8, 2012)

• The Nearby Stops tab makes it super easy to find the bus stops near you. (Or anywhere else—drag the map around to check out the bus service anywhere in town.) Tap on a stop to see its name, or tap and hold to go right to a list of upcoming departures.
• Newly-added favorites would take their sweet time appearing in the “Favorites” list
• The app would crash after searching the list of bus stops in the “Navigate” tab
• The buttons to toggle maps between “Standard”, “Satellite”, and “Hybrid” are now much less obtrusive
• Minor fixes all over the place
• Use the latest version (2.1) of the CUMTD API

Version 1.1.2 (April 25, 2012)

• Navigation map pins are now color coded: green for the starting point, red for the ending point, and purple for everything else
• The departures list would sometimes crash right after data was reloaded
• The navigation panel would sometimes crash when trying to enter an address, choose a stop, or pick a map point
• Navigation maps would sometimes show a gap when the instructions said to walk from one corner of a stop to another (e.g. in the Illinois Terminal)

Version 1.1.1 (April 2, 2012)

• Improved support for Apple’s VoiceOver accessibility system: CU Buses is now fully usable by blind and visually-impaired users
• Navigation options are now better-organized. Timing options are now shown on the main navigation screen, and the other navigation options are now shown only in the “Navigation” tab. These options have been removed from “Settings” because that was redundant and confusing.
• Shorter distances for navigation are shown in feet instead of miles. (How far is “0.07 miles”, anyway?)
• Navigation distances can be shown in meters and kilometers instead of in feet and miles
• The app would sometimes keep displaying a network error even after the problem went away
• The app would sometimes keep saying that “there are no buses coming” even after having received data to the contrary
• The times shown for navigation instructions were wrong after the daylight-saving change

Version 1.1 (February 21, 2012)

• Navigation instructions can now be viewed on a map! Tap the map icon on an itinerary. Bus routes are color-coded and walking routes use a dashed line; points where you need to get on or off a bus are clearly marked.
• View stops on a map: while viewing the bus list for any stop, tap the action menu and then “View on map” to see the stop’s location on a map. Individual stop points (like “SE Corner”) are shown so you know exactly where your stop is.
• Planned-trip itineraries now show a summary: for example, “2:31–2:38 PM (7 min.)”
• Stop point names (like “SE Corner”) are now more consistent
• Addresses pasted from Maps, Yelp, etc. are now handled gracefully
• Newly-added favorite stops would occasionally not show up
• Some contacts’ names could show up as “(null)”
• The navigation feature might stop checking the user’s current location
• The Settings panel would be inaccessible after editing the favorites

Version 1.0 (February 10, 2012)

• Our first public release!