User:Qtaa/TrainTime

TrainTime is a mobile app developed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) of New York State that allows passengers to check schedules and purchase tickets for the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and Metro-North Railroad.

History
Before the release of the integrated TrainTime app, its functionality was served by three distinct apps: the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad each had their own apps for checking schedules, and a third app allowed passengers to purchase tickets on both railroads.

TrainTime was released on August 17, 2022 during a press release in Grand Central Terminal in New York City.

Features
TrainTime allow passengers to check the schedules and purchase tickets for both the LIRR and Metro-North. Riders can pay for tickets using a credit card or Apple Pay, and the MTA intends to add Google Pay as an option by the end of 2022.

TrainTime also lets users view the real-time location of individual trains. To power this functionality in preparation for the app's release, the MTA retrofitted its entire LIRR and Metro-North fleet with GPS sensors that update every two seconds. Further, the app also tracks and reports the capacity of the cars within every train using the weight of each car.

Future
The app is slated to make transfers between the LIRR and Metro-North railroads easier once LIRR trains serve the planned Grand Central Madison station, although it is not possible to buy tickets that connect between the two railroads. Instead, such itineraries must be purchased as two separate tickets since the LIRR and Metro-North are run by different agencies within the MTA.