A Massachusetts Institute of Technology senior released an iPhone real-time tracking app for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Green Line Thursday using data provided by the MBTA.
The data allowed Alex Grinman, who is studying mathematics and computer science & engineering, to create Greenline, an app he said he has wanted to make since he released the Where’s My MBTA Bus? app in 2010.
“I’ve been wanting to work on this for many years now,” Grinman said. “I released the Where’s My Bus app, [and] people have been writing to me, constantly asking, ‘When are you going to add the Green Line?’ There was no way to do it, but recently, the MBTA put GPS trackers on the trains and released the data publically, so I knew I had to build it then.”
The MBTA released real-time location data for the Green Line Oct. 23, 2014, according to a press release from the MBTA. Richard Davey, former Massachusetts Department of Transportation CEO and secretary, said in the release the data would help Green Line riders make smarter travel decisions.
“Following the revolutionary release of our real-time data to developers and the installation of the customer-favorite Countdown Clocks, Green Line customers will now begin to have the same level of information to make better-informed travel decisions while riding the surface lines of the MBTA,” he said.
Grinman said he received helped from his father, Vladimir Grinman and Blade. Consumer Technology Foundry to create and market the Greenline app.
“I started an app business with my dad. He’s helped me with a lot of the back end stuff,” Grinman said. “He helped with the server for the Greenline app. I built the app myself, and then I went to people at Blade to get their thoughts and feedback. They also helped me with testing and some PR, so it very much was an advisory role.”
Grinman said the app is user-friendly.
“You open it, and it uses your location to find the nearest station,” he said. “It always shows all the trains in one direction, and you can switch between inbound and outbound. Then it zooms into where you are and where your next upcoming train is.”
Grinman said he is particularly excited about one feature that allows users to share the location of their train with friends or colleagues in the event the user is running late to a meeting or appointment.
Currently, the app only tracks the Green Line when it is above ground, but Grinman said he is ready to update the app so it tracks underground locations once the MBTA releases that data.
“The MBTA has not released the underground train data. They promised to release it soon. Once they release it, I’ll update the app to include those locations,” he said. “I really wanted to create a good experience for Greenline users and then expand that to the Orange, Red and Blue later on.”
Jacob Groshek, a professor of emerging media in the Boston University College of Communication, said the app might only be a band-aid to a “broken transportation system in metro Boston.”
“The point is simply that keeping track of outmoded and regularly delayed trains doesn’t solve the problem of them being out of date and often delayed,” he said.
However, Groshek said the possibility exists for the Greenline app to take on a greater purpose.
“If the app could somehow encourage more investment into public transportation, perhaps by providing more and regular feedback from riders to public officials such as newly-elected [Massachusetts] Governor Charlie Baker, who recently proposed cutting funding to the MBTA by approximately $14 million, then the app would truly take on a transformative social function rather than just being a neat modern convenience,” he said.
Several residents said they are excited about the creation of the Greenline app.
Matt Ernst, 22, of Mission Hill, said the app will be especially useful during bad weather.
“I wouldn’t have to wait outside in the cold for the T to show up,” he said. “I could just wait inside, track the location of the T and go outside when it gets close to me.”
Juliet Chuang, 21, of Fenway, said Greenline will help solve her biggest problem problem with public transportation — not knowing the T’s location.
“You never know when the next one is going to come. It’s really helpful, and the fact that it’s accurate would make my life a whole lot easier,” she said. “Also, the design is really clean and user-friendly.”
Josh Carlson, 25, of Allston, currently uses a web-based tracker, but he looks forward to trying Greenline.
“I use the Green Line a lot, so it would be nice to know when the trains are coming,” he said. “I already use a web-based app developed at Harvard, but it’s kind of clunky and using the web browser is inconvenient. I like the idea of how Greenline is actually an app, so hopefully that would make the experience better.”
There is also android app which uses same MBTA real time data to track Green Line trains (Green Line Tracker)