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New app allows commuters to share info on train delays through Twitter

3 Comments
By Meg Murphy

While trains in Japan are revered for their reliability and punctuality, sometimes the inevitable happens, and services become delayed. If you are one of the hundreds of thousands in Japan who depend on the trains to get you to and from work each day, it can really put a damper on things to arrive at the station and find your platform crowded with other commuters, expecting a long wait.

If you had known about the delay beforehand, you could’ve planned a different route, or if that’s not an option, you could have stopped somewhere for some coffee to kill the time. It would be great if there was an app for that, you think.

Well, lucky for you there is!

The “Yahoo! Riaru taimu kensaku” (Yahoo! Real Time Search) application has added a new feature – “Chien Nau” (Delayed Now) – giving commuters up-to-date information on train delays.

What’s unique about this feature is that it picks up live tweets from Twitter giving information about delays or suspended services. Since the tweets are real-time, you’ll tend to get this information faster than official announcements. This application works in cooperation with “Yahoo! Norikae Annai,” a free trip-planning application, to release official announcements as well, so you can rest assured that the information you’re getting is reliable.

Another cool feature of this app is that you can register up to five different train lines that you frequent and choose to receive notifications if there are any delays on those lines. And if that weren’t enough, you can even see how people are feeling about a particular delay.

The app (Yahoo!リアルタイム検索) is available to download for free on Google Play and iTunes.

Read more stories from RocketNews24. -- That’s the Power of Music – It Really Does Bring Joy to the World -- Oh the things you’ll see when glancing at a nearby passenger’s phone on the trains of Japan -- Check out these luxury restrooms – you’ll want to visit Shibuya Hikarie just to use the ladies’ room!

© RocketNews24

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.


3 Comments
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I've been using twitter to check train delays for years now, using the Twitter app itself.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

app? more bloat on my phone no thanks. a regular web page on the browser is more than sufficient and up to date. http://www.tetsudo.com/traffic/ is good one. Chrome browser even translates it, if that's your thing.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

How about stopping jumpers? That would solve 99% of delays.

Just had another one today on the Kataseenoshima branch of Odakyu. Gets old.

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