Application presentation: Timetables

Public transport is most effective in the age of social media if, in addition to the signs posted at the stops, the timetables are also available from the mobile phone, ideally with the live position of the vehicles. Because even if someone memorizes the data, traffic disruptions, diversions, temporary closures or replacement flights can also intervene so that a bus, tram, ship or railway train does not run when you expect it to. Official and third-party transit apps also come in handy for its random planning, and it’s now adding to the list of the latter Sándor Berry its aptly named application, Schedules.

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Sándor is studying at BME’s industrial engineering and IT department, and at first he started developing an app as a hobby, the goal of which is uniform, national planning with the inclusion of live flight information, and the iOS version was completed last year. This is now being followed by the publication in the Google Play Store and the Huawei AppGallery, and the latter is especially good news due to the narrow range of domestic applications of the HMS ecosystem. The Schedules are therefore not only for the capital and the BKKrelies on: uses a Steering wheel busthe MÁVthe Paksi Közlekedesi Kft and the Blaguss Agora (Szombathely) timetables, and if a database for live flight positions is available for the app, this plays a role in planning and timetables.

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The undoubted virtue of Timetables is the clean, modern, transparent interface without a chaotic mass of data and a flood of options: the application starts with our saved stops and flights, or with the screen of nearby departures according to our choice, with a simple swipe between the two pages. I also spent most of my time here, after all, I was most often interested in current departures and connections, but I can also easily look up data for later departures or scheduled arrivals, or browse the entire day’s tables. I have already selected a few favorite stops from nearby suggestions, but the relevant locations and flights can be pulled from the search engine just as easily – if you are interested in public transport in several settlements, it is advisable to change service providers.

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I like that even in the case of dozens of personally selected items, the entries are perfectly separated by the clearly visible numbering and colors of the vehicles, and by clicking on the stops and routes, the map and, where applicable, the vehicle positions are also displayed, and we are also informed about the relevant traffic changes. You can switch to the route planner at the bottom, and it also works nationally – for example, between Budapest and Szombathely, Menetrendek selects a route using a combination of BKK and Volánbusz or MÁV, of course showing the transfer times and the required walking distances. In any case, a completely pedestrian or bicycle design can also be requested, although it is better to use a target application for this.


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What I miss is a map view where all stops, routes and all current flight positions are available in bulk, so that we can immediately select from all options by clicking on them. For now, you can’t even choose a final destination by pushing it on the map, you have to use the text search engine. On the other hand, we can save home, work, school and other addresses for targeted route planning from anywhere, and it is a useful extra that Sándor Bogyó’s development displays track numbers and bus stops if the source publishes them. The down-to-earth design is cleverly adapted to the light and dark system theme, and there is also an Apple Watch client on iOS for added convenience. As always, the test of the pudding is the eating: it is worth giving a try with Schedules, which can be tried on iOS by clicking here, can be installed here from the Play Store, and the AppGallery version is available from here.

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