NJ Transit Announces DepartureVision

Have an iPhone? Take the train? NJ Transit has some news for you.

Today, they announced a newly publically available beta test of a service that will provide real-time information on train departures for mobile devices, including iPhones, Blackberries and other web-enabled cell phones. The system, called DepartureVision, will allow passengers traveling to Secaucus Junction to view connecting track information before arriving at the station.

Full press release is below.

NJ TRANSIT TO DELIVER TRAIN DEPARTURE BOARD INFO ON MOBILE DEVICES
Launches beta test of DepartureVision™ for Secaucus Junction customers

NEWARK, NJ — As part of the agency’s ongoing effort to use technology to improve customer access to travel information, NJ TRANSIT Executive Director Richard Sarles today announced a public beta test of “DepartureVision™,” a new NJ TRANSIT service that displays train departure boards on mobile devices, such as iPhones, Blackberries or web-enabled cell phones.

With DepartureVision, customers can view actual train departure screens—including arrival time, track assignment and train status—right in the palm of their hand. 

NJ TRANSIT is the first transit agency in the region to provide this service on mobile devices.

“We are committed to tapping into the latest technology and putting it to work for our customers, as demonstrated by a series of web enhancements in recent years, such as My Transit alerts,” said Sarles.  “This public beta test for mobile train departure boards will offer customers improved access to real-time travel information, and we look forward to rolling out the new technology to more stations in the coming months.” 

The beta test of DepartureVision will take place over a period of six to eight weeks, using train departure boards for Frank R. Lautenberg Station at Secaucus Junction—an ideal test environment because of the large number of customers that transfer at the station.  NJ TRANSIT will collect feedback over the pilot period and incorporate it when the technology is launched more broadly in the months ahead.

Among the benefits of DepartureVision, customers traveling to Secaucus Junction will be able to view connecting track information before arriving at the station.  Similarly, customers who use the new Meadowlands Rail Line to travel to and from football games or major events will be able to check their Secaucus connections from Giants Stadium.

As an additional benefit, users can click on an individual train to see a list of stations it serves.

Customers can access the new system by visiting njtransit.com from their web-enabled mobile device.

In recent years, NJ TRANSIT has implemented a series of web enhancements to improve the flow of information to and from customers, including RSS feeds for train, bus and light rail status; a computerized Lost and Found system; Google Transit integration, a mobile website and mobile “Contact Us” feature for web-enabled mobile devices.

Introduced in 2006, NJ TRANSIT’s mobile website gives customers the ability to tap into the most popular areas of njtransit.com in a streamlined format optimized for web-enabled mobile devices—enabling them to check schedules and fares from wherever they are, and scan up-to-the-minute information about system operations and delays.