QuickTrain vs Chicago CTA Bus Tracker
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
QuickTrain
Get real-time arrival estimates for Chicago Transit Authority El trains. Quickly find the next train to your destination or the first train arriving at a specific location. Manual mode is available for areas without GPS.
- Real-time train arrival estimates
- Location-based tracking
- Manual station selection
- Favorite station shortcuts
- CTA El Train Tracker API integration
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Quick! When is the next CTA El train coming to your station? QuickTrain will determine your location and let you know using the Chicago Transit Authority's El Train Tracker API, giving you real time estimates on when you train will arriving. Standing at the bottom of a station to see which train to take? Use QuickTrain to determine which train will be showing up first to that location. Underground where there is no GPS signal? Use the intuitive manual mode to find your station in under two touches. Consistently use the same stations? Set favorites to have a shortcut to the stations you use most.
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.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Chicago CTA Bus Tracker at Free against QuickTrain's $0.99. Chicago CTA Bus Tracker also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 1) and ratings volume (184 vs 8). QuickTrain's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 3 months vs every 37 months). On 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
Chicago CTA Bus Tracker is free to download; QuickTrain costs $0.99 up front. QuickTrain sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Chicago CTA Bus Tracker asks for nothing beyond the download.
Chicago CTA Bus Tracker holds the better App Store score, 4.2 against 4.0. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chicago CTA Bus Tracker has 184 ratings behind it against 8, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 87% of QuickTrain's written reviews are positive against 60% of Chicago CTA Bus Tracker's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
QuickTrain ships an update every 3 months, Chicago CTA Bus Tracker every 37 months. The most recent releases landed on September 30, 2026 and October 13, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | QuickTrain | Chicago CTA Bus Tracker |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.0 (8 ratings) | 4.2 (184 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 87.0% of reviews — better | 59.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 8 | 184 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months — better | Every 37 months |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Paid | Ad-supported — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 12 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | sushiGrass | Naiara Albaina |
Customer experience
QuickTrain
Chicago CTA Bus Tracker
Bugs and requests
QuickTrain
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or 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
Show 1 moreShow fewer
- Allow users to refresh current input
In-app purchases
QuickTrain
- Tip$0.99
Chicago CTA Bus Tracker
No in-app purchases
