StationStops Metro-North 2.0 has been submitted to the Apple iTunes App Store for approval!

StationStops 2.0 is a completely new application, re-written from scratch for iPhone OS 3.x. It also has a completely new UI, database, and features, as well as GPS tracking so you can watch your train travel between stops in realtime.

Yes, at long last, StationStops 2.0 supports schedules between stations on the same line, not just trips to and from Grand Central Station.

Best of all, version 2.0 is a FREE UPDATE to all existing users as a thank you for your support and patience. We know that version 1.x had some limitations and occasional schedule change update lag. It isn’t because we’ve been asleep at the switch – its just that StationStops to date could only be our ‘best attempt’ effort to provide a service which did not have a source support structure for schedules.

StationStops 2.0 is targeted to address that.

We have been working tirelessly over the past 8 weeks to deal with a ‘perfect storm’ of new Metro-North Schedules, source data format changes, and our all-new codebase all converging at the same time. That said, users should be aware that 2.0 is in a ‘quasi-Beta’ state until we get 2.1 pushed out – but we had to get 2.0 out asap so users could have new schedule info.

The good news is that all this work being done by MTA, developers, and Google, is driving apps like StationStops to a standardized, reliable platform for scheduling which is nothing but good news for future schedule releases, features, and app updates across multiple commuter lines.

Some stuff that is not supported right now includes trips that involve transfers – this includes alot of branch line travel and some miscellaneous stuff like inter-station travel (e.g. Poughkeepsie to Yankee Stadium), Wassaic shuttles, local White Plains services, school commutations, and so forth. We got this data this morning and making it priority #1.

Also, because of the massive number of permutations of schedules now available and the late-breaking nature of the new schedule, testing has been limited and some features from 1.4 have not been integrated yet. We urge users to bear with us and double-check your important trips against the MTA schedule, which we provide a link to in the app to open in a browser.

In general the app itself should be very stable, although there is a potential for a bad combination of stored station prefs to crash the app on startup. If this happens (it shouldn’t, but there are over 24k combinations of schedules), simply uninstall and reinstall the app as a temporary fix until we push out 2.1.

I’ll post much more info when the app hits the store!

Thanks to all of our users for your support, feedback, and patience while we polish up 2.0!