MUNI, Finally.

With Embark SF, we’ll get you where you need to go seamlessly across the Bay Area. Right now, we’re starting with MUNI, BART, Caltrain, and AC Transit, with more to come. Let us know what systems you want to see in the app, and we’ll get to work on adding them.

Search and plan trips to addresses, establishments, or a dropped pin. Save favorite locations and trips for quick access. With the quick-route Embark button, instantly plan a trip to where you’re going from your current location. We’ve laid the foundation for Embark SF to be the quickest transit app on your phone.

Maps. Of Everything.

Schematic maps are useful for navigation; street maps give you a better idea of distance and help you get the last few blocks from the bus stop to your destination. We built a dynamic transit map that shows services like BART and Caltrain in a simplified schematic when zoomed out, but still shows all the AC Transit and MUNI bus lines, and street detail, when zoomed in.

Our maps are a work in progress, so you’ll see them evolve and become more refined as we continue to work on the app. Get in touch if you have ideas on how we could improve our maps.

Real-Time; and if not, Offline.

With great big bus systems, comes great unreliability. When you tap on a station or bus stop on the map, Embark SF shows real-time departure information for that stop (when available). If you’re underground, you’ll see scheduled times. The trip planner also works offline; you can plan a new trip from inside Van Ness station, and still know how to get where you’re going.

We hope we can be the best way for you to get from A to B. Embark SF is our latest project, but we’ve got a lot more planned for 2013. Hope you’re ready.

Download Embark SF now from the App Store.

xoxo,
The Embark Crew
@LetsEmbark | Facebook

 Please check out this article or the BMW press release for more information:

Embark & Mayor Bloomberg at the NYC Big Apps 3.0 Awards Ceremony (Image courtesy of NYC EDC)

This marks the second major award that Embark NYC has won after the MTA App Quest Grand Prize in February. Again, thanks to all our users for voting for us during the public voting period on ChallengePost. We’re very pleased with the reception that Embark NYC has enjoyed, and we think you’ll really like what we’re working on next.

The Embark Team (via http://www.mta.info)

Embark NYC topped a field of 42 applications – all of which leveraged transit data made publicly available through the MTA. The contest was sponsored by the MTA as a means of encouraging developers to build innovative applications for the millions of riders who use public transit in New York City each day. The decision for the MTA to open up its transit data is representative of a larger movement in the mass transit space, with transit agencies becoming increasingly supportive of work by independent, third-party developers. We were tremendously excited about the opportunity to compete, and we want to say thanks to the MTA for its effort in creating such an event.

And to our users, we want to say thank you for all of your votes! Embark NYC finished as one of the top 10 applications in the popular voting category, and we were really amazed at your response. Thanks for helping us get the word out!

For those of you who haven’t had a chance to watch, take a look at the product video we used in our MTA App Quest submission:

Happy Travels,

The Embark Team

“I hate getting all the way down into a station, only to see one of those paper advisories telling me that my train isn’t actually coming.”

For those of you unfamiliar with such warnings, imagine seeing something like this on your way to work:

(via arvindgrover on Flickr)

As the week went on, it became clear that the system for sharing service changes was broken. And after an infamous 2am encounter with a Q line closure, we immediately set to work on building a better way to share these types of advisories with riders.

Our solution was a push notification system, and it’s currently available in New York, London, and Chicago (Metra). The idea is simple: you tell us which routes you care about, and we’ll let you know when a service change happens on that line.

To turn ON push notifications, first visit the Advisories page by tapping the ‘Advisory’ icon in the bottom right hand corner of the home screen:

Once in Advisories, select “Notification Options” from menu:

To receive push notifications for a particular line, simply turn notifications ON, then select the line you care about by tapping its name. A blue checkmark will appear when you have successfully “subscribed” to that line.

And that’s it! When a new service change is issued on your line, we’ll send you a push notification to let you know. (Note: Currently, advisories are only pushed during commute hours M-F, 7-10 am and 4-7 pm)

We would love to hear your feedback about how our notification system is working for you.

Send us an email!

Happy travels,

Thanks

The Embark Team