New MTA App Gives Straphangers Swag

Did you know the reason New York City buses do not accept paper money is because New York City Transit uses giant vacuum hoses to empty fareboxes, a process that would shred bills?

This tidbit of info and so much more is offered by the Bus NYC application on iTunes, an MTA “App of the Week.” Bus NYC also gives New York City commuters realtime scheduled bus departures directly to your phones, even when you don't have an Internet connection.

For B63 riders or those who live in Brooklyn's neighborhood of Park Slope, they can even view the realtime position of the buses as they move along the route (according to Electric Labs, the app’s producer, they’ll be introducing this feature for other routes soon).

Aside from being chosen as an MTA App of the week, the app has received a 4+ rating and is under license from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). So the app offers loads of official MTA information, including official maps, fares, contact details, how to get to and from the airports and other features.

Again, the interesting thing about this app is that many of the features work offline. So you can use it while on the subway, or when you have no signal.

According to their preview on iTunes, Bus NYC is the most feature-rich New York Bus app available, beautifully designed with stunning pictures of the city and the latest news about your network of transportation. For a full list of supported Bus NYC bus routes, please click here.

The 1.0.3 version, the newest version is 48 MB and is available now for $1.99. Bus NYC is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1.3 or later