Chicago CTA Bus Tracker vs Live CTA
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Chicago CTA Bus Tracker
Track Chicago CTA buses in real-time. Select your route, direction, and stop to view upcoming bus arrivals. Save favorite stops for quick access to arrival times.
- Live bus tracking
- Route and direction selection
- Stop arrival predictions
- Save favorite stops
- Fast and easy to use
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Live bus tracker for Chicago CTA buses. Simply select a route, direction and stop to see the next bus arrivals. Save your favorite stops to see upcoming arrivals with a single touch. - CTA buses - Save unlimited number of favorites - Easy to use - Fast This is not an official app.
Live CTA
This app provides real-time train departure information for CTA stations. It automatically finds your nearest station or allows you to select one, displaying estimated arrival times, destinations, and route colors. Get up-to-the-minute transit updates to plan your journey.
- Real-time train departures
- Nearest station locator
- Select station by distance or name
- Destination and route color
- Delay information
- Feedback to developers
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Have you ever tried to catch a train at a CTA station, but didn't exactly know when the train was coming? How about guessing how long the train is, only to find out the train was shorter than you thought? If so, then Live CTA is for you! Live CTA will instantly locate the nearest CTA station, and display all the upcoming real-time estimated departures for that station. Additionally, you can also choose to select any other CTA station and get its estimated departures. KEY FEATURES: - Locates your nearest CTA station instantly. - Displays real-time estimated departures loaded directly from CTA servers. - Shows useful information for upcoming trains: - Destination - Estimated time until departure - Route color - Delay information - Allows you to select a station by distance or by name - Feedback tab to send messages directly to the development team SERVICE REQUIREMENTS: - Location Services - A working internet connection DISCLAIMERS and DATA DISTRIBUTION LIABILITY STATEMENT Jonajo Consulting LLC, the owner and producer of Live CTA, shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described and/or contained herein. The information contained in these data is dynamic and may change over time. The data are not better than the original sources from which they were derived (https://www.transitchicago.com/developers/ttdocs/#_Toc296199903). It is the responsibility of the data user to use the data appropriately and consistent within the limitations of real-time estimated departure data in general and these data in particular. Jonajo Consulting LLC gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of these data. Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life. By using the Live CTA application, you agree to these terms and conditions.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Live CTA at 5.0 against Chicago CTA Bus Tracker's 4.2. Live CTA also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 60%) and ads (none vs shown). Chicago CTA Bus Tracker's advantage is ratings volume (184 vs 2). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Live CTA holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chicago CTA Bus Tracker has 184 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 60% of Chicago CTA Bus Tracker's written reviews are positive against 100% of Live CTA's.
Chicago CTA Bus Tracker ships an update every 37 months, Live CTA every 8 months. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Chicago CTA Bus Tracker | Live CTA |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (184 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 59.6% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 184 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 37 months | Every 8 months — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 12.0 — better | 13.2 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 12 MB | 9 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Naiara Albaina | Jonajo Consulting LLC |
Customer experience
Chicago CTA Bus Tracker
Live CTA
Bugs and requests
Chicago CTA Bus Tracker
Reported bugs
8 issues- App doesn't update
- App doesn't refresh
- Home page doesn't load
- No information available when searching
- App freezes sometimes
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- No real-time info refresh
- Doesn't load consistently
- Takes a while to upload
Requested features
6 requests- Ability to rearrange favorites
- Add a refresh button
- Improve user-friendliness on the go
- Add train tracking
- Fix discrepancy between app and website
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- Allow users to refresh current input
Live CTA
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Chicago CTA Bus Tracker
No in-app purchases
Live CTA
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Chicago CTA Bus Tracker free?
Is Live CTA free?
Which has better reviews, Chicago CTA Bus Tracker or Live CTA?
Do Chicago CTA Bus Tracker or Live CTA have ads?
Which is updated more often, Chicago CTA Bus Tracker or Live CTA?
Other comparisons
