A free, new app aims to help New York City subway riders fly through their commutes.
Pigeon acts like the popular Waze app, allowing users to navigate routes, view real-time disruptions, receive estimated arrival times, and live updates about the beleaguered subway system.
The crowd-sourced app, which can be downloaded from the App store, also has a feature which enables people to share their complaints about the transit system, and earn points.
“The crowd-sourced component meant we could even have some fun along the way, commiserating over the shared human experience of being packed into a crowded subway car on a hot day or finding surprising ease and calm from dogs tucked in bags,” co-founder Laura Rokita told The Post.
Launched in 2018 by invitation only, Pigeon now has tens of thousands of users, and plans to expand beyond New York City, Rokita said. Pigeon is a part of Area 120, Google’s workshop for experimental products.
“I highly recommend this app if you commute often, have more than one subway line near your place, or transfer trains regularly at busy stations,” wrote one reviewer.
Pigeon, which is only available to Apple users, offers commute notifications, updates on crowding, as well as route status information.
“We visualize activities like delays on our map screen and use a heatmap to make it clear where other users are experiencing congestion,” Rokita said.
Some have voiced complaints about the app’s usability.
“The user interface is way too cluttered. Hard to understand what is going on and marking the category is very confusing,” another reviewer wrote.
According to Rokita, joining the app now, while it is involved with Area 120, offers users a special opportunity.
“For our users, it means you get a chance to experience our app in its early stages and help shape the product as it grows,” she said.