(Apologies in advance for the Sydney-centric rant about to be flung your way).
If there’s a bigger bunch of dicks than the people running Cityrail in Sydney, I’m yet to hear about them. Aside from incredibly inept timetabling, corruption, outdated trains and an overall incompetence in terms of providing a world-class public transport system, they’ve also demanded that a third party developer of an iPhone timetable app pull their program from the App Store for copyright violation.According to David Braue over at ZDNet, the developer of Transit Sydney, Alvin Singh, has been threatened by Cityrail with legal action unless he removes the program from the App Store.
Apparently, the douches at CityRail reckon that their primary concern is that customers will receive incorrect information, as they aren’t able to offer third party developers access to their internal systems.
Riiight.
(Just yesterday I was waiting on Central station and the platform manager announced that they had no idea why a single train was being delayed by signal failure on a separate line when every other train was running on schedule. Trains are frequently late, cancelled or just never arrived – to the point where passengers pretty much expect inaccuracies. You’re not protecting your good name by killing this app, Cityrail – you need to have a good name before that can happen.)
More likely, it’s because Cityrail are planning their own application on timetables for the App Store, which they told ZDNet would be available later this year. But judging by how well they keep their trains running, I wouldn’t count on it.
This isn’t the first time this has happened either – the developer of Metro Melbourne and Metro Perth also had a Sydney version available for a few days before CityRail sent a threatening letter. At his request we didn’t cover the story last year as he hoped to work out an arrangement with Railcorp, but it looks much less likely now…
The Transit Sydney App is still available on iTunes for $2.49 – although it seems to be getting a lot of fairly negative reviews. The question is whether it will stay online long enough for Alvin to update and improve the program, like every other iPhone app that’s released a bit prematurely. I hope so – mostly because the city of Sydney realy needs a decent train timetable app. And CityRail sure as hell isn’t going to be the one to provide it….
[ZDNet]
Tom Horn
March 6, 2009 at 4:10 PM
If you are watching Channel 10 news this afternoon at 5:00 you will see an interview with another Sydney Iphone developer that has been told to pull down his Cityrail timetable apps.
(http://www.grofsoft.com/tripview.php)
Report PermalinkManuel
March 6, 2009 at 4:20 PM
Did not see that app before – I still have a bunch of paper timetables laying around.
Report PermalinkQ
March 6, 2009 at 4:30 PM
I’m not sure if anyone managed to get the Metro Syd app before it was changed, but if you did the current update does not pull the timetable information. Plus it frees you up from further updates by allowing you to update from the CityRail website.
Seriously, screw CityRail. I do not see the rationale in this course of action at all.
Report PermalinkJarrah
March 6, 2009 at 4:33 PM
When I heard the news elsewhere, I immediately went to the AppStore to grab it before it was taken off. The convenience of not having to use 131500.com.au on my iPhone is worth a few bucks. But no bus timetables, and the negative reviews, caused me to change my mind. Lack of bus information isn’t a deal-breaker, as it was coming in an update, but no weekend info, and big bugs rendering the app useless? Count me out.
Report PermalinkReDrUm
March 6, 2009 at 4:33 PM
Another option available, is a web app from iTransit. Works for Sydney and Melbourne. http://iphone.itransit.com.au/
Report PermalinkTristan
March 6, 2009 at 4:34 PM
Metro Syd is a great app… missing a few trains… but most of them are there… I didn’t know that it wasn’t being made anymore… shame…
Report PermalinkTodd
March 6, 2009 at 4:35 PM
Apparently it is 4 developers now being threatened by shitty rail. I moved to Perth last year and seeing how perth transport now integrates with google maps directions, it really gives you some perspective as to how far behind CityRail are
Report Permalinkpoedgirl
March 6, 2009 at 4:45 PM
This is one reason I’m glad I live in Perth. The Transperth service is completely open to anyone, you can even get the info direct from Google Maps. Transport companies need to realise that this helps them, not attack people only trying to make their service better.
Report PermalinkS.
March 6, 2009 at 4:46 PM
I have an email from several months back where CityRail denied my request to license their timetable information for the same purpose. The information is clearly marked as copyright, and a simple enquiry reveals their ‘no share’ policy.
Yes, the policy is stupid, stupid, stupid. But I can’t say I’m sympathetic to a bunch of guys wanting to make a buck off other peoples intellectual property. At the least they it should all be in the public domain, or they pay CityRail a license fee.
Gee, I could have got on TV if I hadn’t followed the sensible route.
Stupid me.
Report PermalinkLuke
March 6, 2009 at 4:57 PM
Only yesterday while walking to Central from UTS I was thinking of how I should check the timetable and how there should be an app for that.
Report PermalinkI jumped on the web and sure enough my train was leaving in 4 mins, ran through the tunnel and through the gates, just made my train and saved about half an hour of waiting.
Shittyrail is useless.
melbdean
March 6, 2009 at 5:41 PM
there is a bunch of waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay bigger richards than the knuckleheads running Sydney’s Cityrail -Melbourne’s Connex. Your app drama would be considered a WIN down here.
Report PermalinkDuncan
March 6, 2009 at 6:10 PM
There is a bigger bunch of dicks! Connex, the dicks who run Melbourne’s train network!
Report PermalinkHirsty
March 6, 2009 at 6:54 PM
This is disheartening. Here is an opporunity for a traditional service provider to embrace new technology and provide a convenience to it’s users.
Report Permalinkpingudownunder
March 6, 2009 at 8:59 PM
I must admit that an iPhone application detailing CityRail’s timetables wouldn’t be useful because CityRail is unable to keep to their own timetables anyway.
As a Pom by origin, I have never been on a worse train system anywhere in the world – and that includes London Underground and British “trains are cancelled because of the wrong type of snow/leaves on the line/its too hot/its too cold” Rail. Even the French system, which is regularly crippled by drivers going on strike, is more reliable than CityRail.
What amuses me is that CityRail claims they can’t provide reliable timetabling information from their own internal systems. If thats the case, http://www.cityrail.info/timetable/index.jsp but be a complete work of fiction and can’t by definition be using their own timetabling systems. An API does not have to be at the code level, it can simply be scraping the web interface. Or even pointing to it. Like the iPhone BOM app appears to do.
I’d have a rant about the local train system (Queensland Rail and Translink) but at least they keep to approximate time … its just you can’t fit on the damn trains because they’re always overcrowded. But thats for another day, at least until after the Reds destroy the ‘tahs tonight :-D
Report PermalinkGraham Weldon
March 6, 2009 at 9:39 PM
A carefully written disclaimer should get them all cleared up.
Report PermalinkTony Bailey
March 7, 2009 at 4:16 PM
You don’t think it has anything to do with The Ministry’s commercial release of the 131500 trip planner two weeks ago?
Report PermalinkJack
March 8, 2009 at 11:55 AM
If this is copyright infringement then its only copyright infringement of something that NSW taxpayers are the rightful owners of.
Remember that for every $1 you spend on a rail ticket, it costs CityRail $4 more to get you to your destination – that $4 comes as a government subsidy, which comes from our tax.
This whole story makes me sick. I blogged about this reccetly (http://sydneytransportblog.wordpress.com/2008/11/01/sydney-commuters-not-twits/) … the problem is goverment organizations too stupid to leverage the community to provide software and information services.
We pay for CityRail. I do not want them spending a $ on anything that is not their core competenence (lol – not that they have any) and that means not messing around trying to write software. We can already see their website and other services are crap. All they should be doing is opening up their data to 3rd parties who can then build the applications.
Report PermalinkGerry
March 14, 2009 at 11:03 PM
Typical of cityrail. they are so Incompetent that management feel threatened by the fact that people paying for their services and hence their very wages, should have access to the timetables that they themselves publish but yet can never stick to…Maybe if they got rid of the army of “want to be cops” basically Glorified ticket inspoectors / thugs and invested the money spent on their wages into infustracture they would be able to provide the services they promise!
Grow up city rail management and stop acting like spoiled little kids in a school playground…Do your job, get the trains running on time and stop trying to make a quick buck out of some struggling software developer who is trying to make the life of those commuters who pay over priced rail tickets fares easier! (know there is concept you over paid jerks in cityrail management would never have even dreamed of!)
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