Getting around in a big city can be a challenge, but it needn’t be when you have one of those futuristic computer phones in your pocket that happens to know your location. With the aid of your smartphone, getting around is a breeze. Here are our favourite apps for taxis and transport.
Welcome to Gizmodo’s After Hours App Series: a detailed look into all the apps you need on your smartphone to have a great night. Stay tuned each day for another round-up of the best apps for after-hours fun.
Car Services And Taxis
GoCatch
Like so many of these apps, GoCatch is home-grown and it’s a dead simple way of getting a cab to you as quickly as possible. The best thing about GoCatch is that it’s being used all around the country: flag cabs in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth all with the one app.
Drivers are be rated out of five by other passengers, so you can be sure you won’t end up with a dud driver. Also, the app shows all the cabs in the area, so you’re not going to be stuck wondering if one is coming for you as you stand on the street corner.
GoCatch
Free
Android, iOS, Windows Phone
Uber
Uber is the car service of the future. Rather than connect your smartphone to just any old taxi cab, Uber hooks you up with a hire car driver and a decked-out luxury car to get you from A to B.
The rates are about 15-20 per cent more expensive than regular taxis, but if you need to be somewhere quickly, quietly and in complete style and luxury, Uber is the service for you.
InGoGo
If luxury transport isn’t for you, another great taxi booking app is InGoGo, which lets you hail a cab based on your location and communicate with the driver before they even get to you so you make sure you don’t miss it.
Public Transport
Every state has different public transport apps. As far as we know, there isn’t a decent app out there right now that actually combines all the various state’s public transport networks into one app for you to use when you’re travelling. For this reason, we’ll round up the best ones in each state.
Tripview — Sydney
Tripview combines rail, ferry and bus timetables, and now lets you track buses in real-time.
TransitTimes+ — Adelaide
Never be lost in the City of Churches again with the TransitTimes+ app for the Adelaide Metro network. It includes a trip planner, map support and alerts you when you’re nearing a stop.
MetLink Beta — Melbourne
Straighten out Melbourne’s network of trams, trains and buses with Metlink’s beta app. The only problem is that right now it’s only an Android app. Still, there are a swathe of other tram tracker apps on the iOS App Store.
MyBus 2.0 — Canberra
MyBus is an app built by students for the citizens of Canberra to track their journey in real-time.
Transport Timetables — Perth
Save yourself the hassle of driving around perth and get the train! Let Perth Transport Timetables help you out.
Translink — Brisbane
A few different apps can service Brisbane’s public transport faithful, depending on the platform you’re on. Try these two for starters.
Have we missed any of your favourites? Tell us in the comments.
Cover image via Shutter
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