iPhone App Review: Tube Exits

Posted by: Sam | Wed, Jun 24, 2009

Most Londoners use the London Underground affectionately (or not so) known as the Tube. Illustrated by the recent RMT Tube strikes, the UK capital grinds to a halt when the tube is down demonstrating just how important the tube is in the daily lives of Londoners. Tube Exits is an app squarely aimed at Londoners and frequent visitors to the capital. It has the simple aim of telling you which carriage of the tube to be in to be nearest to the point of exit from the platform.

Hit the read link for more on this time saving app.

Where the exit is located is something that those that use the tube for their daily commute have already worked out for their route to work as it can make a huge difference not only to reduce the amount of walking but also reduce the volume of people walking up the stairs/escalator or packing into the lift. The problem comes when you’re on your way to a place or station that you’re not intimately familiar with. It’s not like the exits have a uniform distribution among the different stations, which means if you pick the wrong end of the tube you could be in for a battle getting out of there. Tube Exits allows you to look like a pro without needing to remember where each exit is for each station. I’m not going to say it’s useful for those who travel every day on the tube to the same destinations. By now it’s not going to be able to tell you any more than you already know, but if like me you make the occasional excursion into the city or to events across the capital, Tube Exits can be a true time saver.

With a pretty intuitive interface that essentially just lets you input your route into the app it will show you which tube carriage to be in to be opposite the exit from the platform. It will even differentiate between exits from the station and exits to other lines, all of which may not be accessible from the same point on the platform. If you happen to have a lot of shopping or luggage this can be a real boon allowing you to literally step of the train opposite the required exit with absolutely minimal effort. The app works off network so you can work out your next route from within the underground and also features a convenient route reversal button (because both ways may not be the same) for your journey home. Your regular journeys can be bookmarked in favourites for quick access. The app also includes the ability to download the latest London Tube map into the app for easy access underground. Finally on the main screen there is also a panel for Links to information about the app and enabling you to write a review or send a link to the app to a friend. Think of it like the normal about screen you find in apps.

Considering how many stations there are on the London Underground there’s bound to be stations that you might visit that you can’t remember where the exit is and Tube Exits is precisely for that purpose. You may think that knowing precisely where the exit is located along the station is a little extreme but a couple of journeys in rush hour with tourists or shoppers everywhere in a packed tube, having to fight your way through the masses to the exit because you’re the opposite end of the platform from the exit will certainly make Tube Exits seem like a godsend. For that reason I whole heartedly recommend the app to all Londoners or people that visit London and use the Tube even given the comparitively high price tag of £1.79.

Tube Exits is available on the App Store for £1.79. A lite version is also available limited to the top 12 busiest stations on the network.