BusBus NYC vs RealTime Transit
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
BusBus NYC
Track the real-time location of MTA buses in New York City. See exactly where your bus is on its route. Data availability is dependent on MTA's rollout of live tracking for all bus lines.
- Real-time bus location tracking
- View bus routes
- MTA bus data integration
- Live updates
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Are you curious about where your MTA bus is in NYC? Now you can see where it is in real-time. Currently, the buses available via this service are limited, but the MTA is rolling this out to more buses soon. * Please note that not all MTA Buses are available. This is not a limitation of the BusBus NYC app. The reason they are not included is that the MTA has not made this live data available yet on all bus lines.
RealTime Transit
Get real-time arrival predictions for buses and subways. Quickly check your favorite transit station's status to see if you'll make your connection. Supports numerous transit agencies across North America.
- Real-time arrival predictions
- Supports multiple transit agencies
- Quick station status checks
- Extensive coverage in North America
- Updates on transit schedules
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Never miss your BART or bus again! Ever wondered if you're going to make it to your BART train? Or wished you could quickly check the next arrivals at your favorite BART or bus stop? This app makes it easy. Get arrival predictions and quickly check nearby or favorite stops across multiple transit agencies, all in one place. Currently supported agencies: * AC Transit — Alameda & Contra Costa Counties, California * BART — Bay Area, California * Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) — Chicago, Illinois * County Connection (CCTA) — Contra Costa County, California * EMBARK — Oklahoma City, Oklahoma * Fairfax Connector — Fairfax County, Virginia * MTA — New York, New York * Port Authority of Allegheny County — Pennsylvania * SFMTA — San Francisco, California * STM — Montréal, Canada * SolTrans — Solano County, California * VTA — Santa Clara County, California * Metro — Los Angeles, California And more agencies are coming soon! Give it a try and let me know what you think. Your feedback and suggestions help make the app better for everyone.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: RealTime Transit at none against BusBus NYC's 1. BusBus NYC's advantage is rating (4.0 vs 3.7) and update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months). On price, ads, 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. BusBus NYC sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. RealTime Transit asks for nothing beyond the download.
BusBus NYC holds the better App Store score, 4.0 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: BusBus NYC has 73 ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two.
BusBus NYC ships an update every 2 weeks, RealTime Transit every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 26, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | BusBus NYC | RealTime Transit |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.0 (73 ratings) — better | 3.7 (3 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 73.5% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 73 — better | 3 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 weeks — better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Ad-supported — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 16.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 15 MB | 34 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | MGS Technologies LLC | Aidin Tajadod |
Customer experience
BusBus NYC
RealTime Transit
Bugs and requests
BusBus NYC
Reported bugs
36 issues- Map is slow to load buses
- No visual indicator for loading status
- Buses appear several stops behind true location
- BxM (1&2) buses don't show in the Bronx
- Some local buses are missing (Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island)
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- Cannot see buses right now (reported issue)
- Blue line feature not showing on newer iPhone models
- Blue line is annoying and requires app restart
- Some bus lines are missing
- Lag time has increased significantly
- Bus is several blocks past its reported location
- iPhone X support needed (older review)
- Bus position is delayed
- App crashes frequently
- Map doesn't refresh when looking at it
- Font on bus icons too small to read
- App doesn't show where the bus will go
- Bus was shown at one location but had already passed by
- Delayed bus reports cause users to miss buses
- App is delayed, causing users to miss buses
- Bus numbers are hard to see
- Blue line is annoying and hard to get rid of
- All buses disappeared after update
- Only showing two buses after update
- No buses showing up
- Refresh time needs to be reduced
- BusBus does not work with latest iPad upgrade
- All buses disappeared after upgrading to iPhone 6 Plus
- App crashes a lot
- App crashes after 2 seconds from opening
- Bus tracking is a little slow
- App freezes a lot
- Not all buses outfitted for GPS
- Many times a bus is mislabeled or doesn't appear
- Refresh button doesn't work almost all the time
- App keeps crashing
Requested features
11 requests- Tagging or highlighting specific buses
- Addition of all routes, including local buses
- Refresh button that works consistently
- Option to type bus numbers
- Reduce refresh time for quicker updates
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- Restrict map to regularly traveled routes
- Show estimated arrival times
- Improve accuracy of bus locations
- Fix blue line feature to be less intrusive
- Dark mode option
- Expand to all boroughs
RealTime Transit
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
BusBus NYC
- BusBus Ad Free$1.99
RealTime Transit
No in-app purchases
