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Waiting for the bus just became a lot easier (and cheaper) with Canadian-made The Transit App

It’s been a bit of a rough ride for navigation software on the iPhone. Since Apple dropped Google Maps with iOS 6, users have been trying to find that Holy Grail app that replaces its functionality, as many just aren’t satisfied with Apple’s Maps software.

Things have been better since Google Maps was released for iOS 6, but if you’re like me and do most of your traveling on public transit, you may have still found yourself searching for that perfect transit app.

You can find out for yourself if your transit app-related prayers have been answered as The Transit App is now available for free in the App Store. It’s certainly hit a chord with many transit riders, as in the three days since it’s been available for free, it’s shot up to the #1 navigation app in Canada, and is sitting #10 overall of free apps in the Canadian app store.

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Tech Crunch reports the accelerator company behind the app, Montreal-based FounderFuel, is excited to see the app catching on with users since making it free. Since the release of version 2 (when the app went free), it’s been downloaded over 35,000 downloads and has received largely favourable reviews from many of its new users.

The secret to The Transit App’s popularity likely lies in its unique transit-focused interface, with two basic options: Routes, which will show you multiple options for how you can get from point A to point B, or Nearby, which finds transit stops nearest to you, and gives you the next departure times.

The Transit App supports 22 cities in the U.S. as well as another 15 in Canada: Calgary, Halifax, Kamloops, Kelowna, Montréal, Ottawa, Québec City, Saskatoon, Squamish, Thunder Bay, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, Whistler and Winnipeg. In regions like Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, the app covers multiple transit systems in the area – especially handy for those commuting from the suburbs.

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According to their website, new cities and transit systems are frequently being added to The Transit App. In order to be added, a city needs to have its transit data open to the public as a public GTFS feed. If your city’s transit doesn’t have an open feed, it won’t be covered in the app (that’s right, I’m looking at you, Mississauga).

You can download The Transit App for iOS from the App Store.

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