After receiving my Nokia Lumia 900 I immediately became interested in the Nokia specific apps available. They are all quite good, but was disappointed to find that Nokia Transit did not support the St. Louis area. Nokia Transit (or Nokia Transport in some mentions) is a public transportation app that is meant to help you get to your destination using public transit.

Some may not realize Nokia has a Beta website called Nokia Betalabs. After a quick sign up you can download Beta applications for all different types of Nokia devices (think Windows Phone and Symbian) and leave reviews, feedback and suggestions. I saw that Nokia Transit (initial version) still had the suggestions box open so suggested the addition of St. Louis. A few days later a Nokia rep replied to my post that it had been added, but for the upcoming version 2.0.

Having seen the news that the  release of the Nokia Transit (a.k.a. Nokia Transport) beta version 2.0 took place today I immediately made my way to Nokia Betalabs to try it out. A quick scan of a QR code by my Lumia and I was delighted to see Nokia made good on their word and I was finding nearby bus stops and routes.

Given this is a beta I won’t focus too much on the interface as it may change, but this is a really nice app. It appears to have two basic functions; Journey Planner and Transit Nearby.

Journey Planner will give you multiple options for using public transit to get to your destination. It will combine the different public transportation methods in your area to give you multiple options to your destination based on the time the route starts. It represents this in a timetable that visually breaks out the transportation method: walking, bus or light rail. A nice feature allows you to see the map of the walking route by clicking on the compass near that part of the route. I feel very confidant you’d have a hard time getting lost with this app.

Transit Nearby is a simple list of nearby public transportation stops, the bus or train number and the time table.

To give a bit of a personal story I have not ridden a public transportation bus since my college days and have never done so in St. Louis. I ride Metrolink regularly. Given the abundance of stops near my location I have set a personal goal to get around downtown using the combination of bus and Metrolink just to experience what our public transportation system is truly like. With this app in hand, I feel I’ll be crossing that goal off my list soon, and will no doubt have a story and full review of how successful the app was in a real life situation very soon.

Finally, kudos to Nokia for reading, responding and making good on user comments and suggestions. I was impressed and am happy to see Nokia has thus far had a stellar record of customer support with their Lumia devices and apps.

If you have a Lumia device and use public transportation go download Nokia Transit (Nokia Transport) Beta 2.0 from Nokia Betalabs today.

Sources: Nokia Betalabs