Metro-North is First Commuter Railroad to Provide Companion Smartphone App
Companion App Equipped With Features of Mobile App, Available in Six Languages
View Demo of TrainTime on the Apple Watch
MTA Metro-North Railroad today announced the formal launch of the TrainTime app for the Apple Watch. This makes Metro-North the first commuter railroad to have a companion smartphone app available for customers. The companion app will automatically populate an Apple Watch if the watch is paired with an iPhone that already has TrainTime downloaded. The watch version is available in six languages and designed to share bookmarked information from the mobile version, making it easier for customers to get their train information on the go.
“I am so proud that Metro-North is the first commuter railroad to be able to provide its customers with a companion smartphone app that has all of the features of its mobile app. Now, customers can keep their phones in their pockets and get all the train information they need with the simple flick of the wrist,” said Catherine Rinaldi, President of Metro-North Railroad. “We are eager to expand this feature to Android users in the near future, and will use customer feedback from our Apple customers to make this companion app even better.”
The app, designed and developed in-house by the MTA IT Product department, is easily accessible with minimal need for input from the user. A customer who takes the train from Stamford to Grand Central Terminal can bookmark their typical morning and afternoon trains on the mobile version of the app. When the customer opens TrainTime on their Apple Watch selected trips will populate up under a “My Trips” tab. When clicking a specific trip on the watch the user can easily see the train’s expected departure time, journey time, the station stops, and capacity in each train car. Using the mobile version of the app, users can turn notifications on for a certain trip which will send notifications on the watch.
For those with less predictable commutes, the app allows users to bookmark stations, populating under a “Stations” tab. Under this tab a user will be able to see arrivals and departures for selected stations. For stations like Grand Central that have several arriving and departing trains at all hours of the day, the app will show the next two scheduled arrivals and departures.
Lastly, users can bookmark service status for the Hudson, Harlem or New Haven lines. This bookmark will alert riders to any ongoing delays or service changes.
Any bookmarked information can be refreshed through the mobile version of TrainTime. Under the “Favorites” tab on the mobile version bookmarks can easily be refreshed to provide users with the latest information.
The addition of an Apple Watch companion app follows Metro-North's recent upgrades to TrainTime. In June the railroad added its capacity tracking feature to the New Haven Line trains following a successful launch on the Hudson and Harlem lines in November 2020.
Metro-North is currently in the testing phase of the Android equivalent watch feature.