Soon, people in six selected cities will be able to use public transit maps on their mobile devices as Apple Maps prepares to release its public transit maps and directions along with iOS 9. The premiere release of these public transit maps for travel via bus, subway and trains is coming to the cities of New York and San Francisco in the United State, as well as London, England; Toronto, Canada; Berlin, Germany and Paris, France. Apple says that it could also provide the public transit maps to some cities in China.
Apple Public Transit Maps Expected to Spread to Hundreds of Cities
After the initial launch of travel services for mobile devices in those first few locations, Apple Maps says it wants to eventually provide the public transit maps system to more than 600 other cities. While this new public transit maps system is expected to be a great service for the people who use it, some think that Apple Maps hasn’t made much progress in the three years since it first released Apple Maps. This new rollout of public transit maps is seen as a great new addition to Apple Maps, which Apple hopes will be a competitor to Google Maps, which Apple stopped using as of their iOS 6 update.
New Cities to Be Added to Public Transit Maps as They’re Ready
Apple Maps plans to add each new city as it becomes available via a rollout over the air instead of doing it via an iOS update. The next two cities after the initial launch are expected to be the cities of Boston and Tokyo. Most other towns in the US and Europe aren’t expected to be added until sometime in 2016. Many commuters are hopeful their towns will be added soon, as the current version of Apple Maps doesn’t do much good for those who travel via bus, subway or train.
Apple Maps Long in the Making
Apple started their plan to create the public transit maps system when it bought two transit apps called HopStop and Embark more than two years ago. Since then, they have purchased other mapping oriented companies as part of their plan to get out this new public transit maps travel system for its commuting customers. If you commute via subway, train or bus, Apple Maps will eventually put together new public transit maps to make your commute easier.
