The train app created by a young man that improves the Renfe and Adif train apps
The creator, a 27-year-old man, has already offered the application to the Generalitat but has not yet received a response.
BarcelonaWhen trains are late, commuters immediately pull out their phones in search of information. Until now, they tried to find out what had happened or when the next train would depart using official Renfe or Adif apps, and even social media platforms like X. Often without success. But for the past three weeks, they've had another option that, according to all users surveyed, "works better" than the official ones. A 27-year-old from Segur de Calafell has created a new app that details, in real time, all the delays on the Catalan rail network and the new service times. Transport me has achieved more than 17,000 downloads in less than a month. In addition, more than 4,100 people visit its web version weekly.
The creator is David Cortés, a programmer with a higher degree in web application development and a commuter rail user. In November—in the middle of circulatory chaos due to the cutting of the Berà tunnel— decided to join the platform for those affected Dignity on the Roads and met Òscar Rovira, who had created the website some time ago The train is late. This A local website has an algorithm that already allowed you to see train delays in your area. "I immediately saw that with that base we could do something useful for everyone, not just us," explains Cortés. Despite being made up of a small group of people, Dignidad en las Vías didn't think twice.
"I created the app in the evenings, after work, and without any resources," he explains. The application, like the initial website, draws on official open data from both Adif and Renfe, as well as Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat (FGC) and Tram. "At the end of February, I realized that something big could be done with this data, and I decided to develop the current application, for both iOS and Android," he explains. By the end of March, the app was available.
The operation is very simple and intuitive, explains Cortés. You select a station or line, and in a matter of seconds, the software displays all the trains that are scheduled to pass, whether they are delayed or not, and when the next one is expected to arrive. The information is updated every 20 seconds. "I don't understand why, if I did this without having the resources, the Generalitat (Catalan government) or the operators didn't do it before," he muses.
In fact, maintaining the app—which can be downloaded for free—is now costing him money. "Last weekend, I was changing the servers so everything would work better and faster, and now it costs me 100 euros a month. And I'm paying for it!" explains Cortés, still surprised by the success of his work. A few days after its launch, the app already had many positive reviews, and Google ranked it first in the ranking. trending, then to top 10 and finally, in top 1 of mobility apps.
Waiting for a move from the administration
"What I want is to help users, to improve their performance," explains the young programmer. "The app could be even better: with the resources the administration has and the ideas and data we could share, we could have an app on the level of those in London or New York, with very clear information and everything grouped together," he envisions. "It's surprising that we boast about Barcelona being the capital of the Mobile World Congress and yet we don't have this done." "I suppose that if this simple app didn't exist until now, it's because it's very transparent," Cortés continues. "If Adif or Renfe made a similar app, with all the real delays, it would reveal the poor service they provide."
Now Cortés—and the Dignity on the Roads team helping him manage this surge in popularity—hopes the Generalitat (Catalan Government) will make a move. "I had the opportunity to attend the plenary session on Cercanías (Commuter Rail) in the Parliament, as a member of the platform, and there we explained and showed the app to the teams in the Territory Department," says Cortés, who claims they congratulated him. "I told them the app was ready, that if they wanted it, it was there. They asked for my phone number, but I haven't received a single call," he explains.
"I'd like them to come and get us because it would mean recovering the 100 euros it costs me a month and that I could spend on something else, honestly," confesses the programmer, who says that he is "giving away" the application to users, but would not give it away to the administration: "If they want it all, they can finance it: they can finance it.
Cortés emphasizes that without the first web version, developed by his colleague Òscar Rovira, "nothing would have been possible." Now they continue working: in the near future —which in his case means "in a few weeks"— they want to open an incident section, both for trains and problems at stations, incorporate data from intercity buses and the metro and buses in Barcelona and Tarragona. "That could become very large," he concludes.