Tic Toc Transit, introduced in August, fulfills one very simple purpose: It tells you when your subway train is coming. It does so with an eye-pleasing countdown to the next two train arrivals on any line, at any station. As long as you tell it before heading out which station you plan to depart from, it works underground.
I was glad to have downloaded Tic Toc Transit when I did. Since it has been so cold in New York recently, anything that allowed me to minimize the time between leaving my house and entering the warmth of a subway car had to be considered a lucky find.
The app was born of transit experience: Miles Fitzgerald, one of its creators, moved to New York from France about five years ago and became a regular rider of the F train. Mr. Fitzgerald was tormented by his wait on the platform every morning.
“The F train, I call it like an old horse,” he said. “It always works, but it’s just slow.”
He said he wished that he could look at a display that would tell him when his train was coming, something like the countdown clocks that, for the moment, exist only on some lines. So he decided to make a digital version based on the set train schedule.
Transit apps like HopStop also include the train schedules. But because Tic Toc Transit presents the information with a ticking clock counting down the seconds, using it is more satisfying than looking at a flat schedule.
With its lovely minimalist design and single function, the app is a good example of a software type that has become fashionable with developers in the last couple of years: Many have been breaking down multifunction services — like Facebook, for instance — into the constituent parts of the services they provide.
There are obvious disadvantages to taking this approach with Tic Toc Transit. The app does not give you directions or a subway map, and it does not provide any handy extras, like allowing you to plug in more than one starting station. Let’s say you are set to get on the F line at East Broadway and are planning to transfer at West Fourth Street. You can’t set up the app to tell you when the next A train is due.
Then there is the obvious catch of using a schedule: The app is not updated with live information, so it’s accurate only when the trains are running on time. The F was quite punctual for me last week, so the app was a godsend. On Saturday, though, it was snowy and my Q train was delayed.
At first, I continued to enjoy using Tic Toc Transit, as a means of holding the tardy train accountable for the damage it was doing to me. Indeed, the app would be a great way to measure when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is not performing as it should.
But as my phone counted down arrival after supposed arrival with no train pulling in, I started to lose my trust and eventually slid my phone into my pocket. Tic Toc Transit can provide a soothing illusion of order. But the app that can hasten the arrival of a late train has yet to be invented.
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