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StationStops for iPhone is a native iPhone application which allows riders of the Metro-North Railroad to check the timetable for regularly-scheduled trains departing and arriving from Grand Central Station.

The design of StationStops from iPhone seeks to most efficiently solve the most common use-case of the Metro-North schedule - ‘just show me my next train and track number now’!

StationStops for iPhone installs a database of trains directly onto the iPhone or iPod Touch, so an internet connection is not necessary. This is very helpful when checking the train schedule while on the subway, a very common scenario where the user does not have mobile data access to the MTA website. The data is sourced from the unwieldy paper-based timetables available at Grand Central.

StationStops for iPhone also seeks to be fundamentally more usable than the MTA website’s schedule form, or the Grand Central Terminal information boards.

It does this in three ways:

1. By remembering your home station.

On the MTA website, you must select both the departure and arrival stations. Most often, the schedule being checked is between Grand Central and another station, the other station being the one the user lives closest to. StationStops remembers your home station (although you can choose any station you want anytime). This saves time when checking the schedule.

2. By not requiring date entry.

Rather than asking for the date, StationStops just has you select the weekday or weekend schedule. While there are some exception rules which make this slightly less accurate than the online schedule, and is not usable for holiday travel, it is 99% accurate for most common queries and saves time when using the application repeatedly.

3. By showing track numbers out of Grand Central Terminal.

When departing from Grand Central, the rider needs to know not only the time of departure, but also the track number of the departing train. MTA does not make this especially easy or convenient.

-Curiously, the only place MTA provides both pieces of information together, online or offline, is at a bank of monitors in the lower level of Grand Central Terminal. Elsewhere in Grand Central, only the final destination of the train and the track number is displayed.

If the track is on the concourse level, the walk down to the lower level to check these special screens is a waste of time and energy. These screens also scroll, so the user must wait for them to scroll to their station to get the information they need, then quickly remember it before the screen changes.

-On the MTA online schedule form, the schedule results do not provide track numbers, although there is another page on the MTA site which does reveal the track numbers which is not referenced or linked to from the schedule results.

-All stops of a given train are revealed on the sign at individual tracks, but the rider would only be at that track if they had already obtained that information. These signs also scroll if there are a lot of stops, so it is sometimes required that the user wait for the sign to scroll to confirm the train is indeed stopping at their station.

-When checking certain departure monitors at Grand Central, especially during PM rush hour, there are often crowds of people surrounding the monitor, making it difficult to get access to.

With StationStops for iPhone, you do not need to wrestle with the shortcoming of any of these resources. Just check the schedule on the app, and the time and track number of your next train will appear. (note: you will need an internet connection for track numbers, as they are subject to more frequent changes).