Earlier today, I received a press release about Metro Mobile, a new, phone-friendly version of KC Metro’s Trip Planner created by benevolent bus rider Nicholas Barnard. I tried the tool for a few sample trips, and it works pretty well—at least, as well as can be expected on my somewhat bootleg phone.

The site lets you select from a list of default locations (libraries, the airport, et cetera). It also lets you set custom locations. Unfortunately, it doesn’t verify the locations before it saves them. I saved my home address, but when I tried to use it, I got that fun Metro page that asks you to select the correct address from a list of six possibilities, including the exact address you entered. It would be nice to be able to (re)select the correct address once and never have to see that page again. (Hey Metro, can we get that on the original Trip Planner, too?)

According to the press release, MM has a GPS feature that can detect your current location, but I couldn’t find it. Perhaps I need a fancier phone.

Even without address checking and GPS, Metro Mobile is a useful tool. I’ll definitely be using it in the real world.

Thanks, Nick!