MTA awards prizes to new transit apps

Apps that offer real-time transit information, tunes from subway buskers and collect user experiences were among the winners of the MTA's second App Quest competition.

A panel of nine judges awarded the $20,000 grand prize to Citymapper, a U.K.-based company that developed a commuting navigation app that has already been helping Londoners get around for more than a year.

"If you do London, you gotta do New York," said Citymapper founder and CEO Azmat Yusuf. "It's the next big one where people have this miserable commute and you can potentially help them out."

Citymapper, available for the iPhone, with an Android version due in a few weeks, offers directions for people traveling by train, bus, foot and bicycle, including Citi Bike.

The MTA and luminaries from the tech world awarded $40,000 from AT&T to six finalists of the 49 apps submitted for the contest at a ceremony held in Grand Central Station. The judging panel comprised of tech, transit and government experts, including Marissa Shorenstein, president of AT&T New York; Sree Streenivasan, the chief digital off Columbia Journalism School professor; and Rachel Haot, the city's chief digital officer. Last year, the top winner was Embark NYC.

The MTA handed over its data, such as real-time train and bus movements, to developers to design a host of transit apps to make city traveling easier. Currently, the MTA offers real-time data on the No. 1 through 6 trains and the 42nd Street shuttle. Real-time locations for buses are available for Bronx and Staten Island routes, with the entire bus fleet covered by next summer.

"We know that it is truly not our data," said MTA chair and CEO Thomas Prendergast. "It's the public's data. We're merely proud stewards of that data."

Other winners offered info other than routes and schedules.

SubCulture.FM, the second place winner that was awarded $10,000, lets train riders store the names of subway musicians in MTA's Music Under New York program by scanning the bar code on an artist's banner.

An app that helps blind and visually impaired riders move throughout the subway system received an honorable mention and a $1,000 prize.

Like other app developers at the competition, Omar Tellez, president of Moovit, the people's choice app that offers crowdsourced navigation, described his product with a sense of altruism.

"At the end of the day, I'm a New York City citizen," Tellez said. "I want to make sure I do my part."

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