Apple today updated its Maps app to add Transit information in Seattle, allowing iOS users living in the city to incorporate public transportation options like the Link Light Rail, Monorail, buses, and more into Maps when seeking directions.

Transit directions within Maps became available with the launch of iOS 9, and while Apple offered directions in a limited number of cities to begin with, the availability of Transit directions has since expanded to encompass 16 cities around the world along with dozens of cities in China.

seattletransitdirections
Apple's iOS 9 Feature Availability page has not yet been updated with the addition of Seattle, but the information should be added in the near future. Including Seattle, Transit directions are now available in Austin, Texas; Baltimore, Maryland; Berlin, Germany; Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; London, England; Los Angeles, California; Mexico City, Mexico; Montreal and Toronto, Canada; New York City, New York; Philadelphia Pennsylvania; San Francisco, California, Sydney Australia; and Washington, DC.

Though also unlisted on the Feature Availability page, Transit directions were also added for Portland, Oregon last Monday.

Top Rated Comments

doelcm82 Avatar
120 months ago
1 city per news = 2 000 000 news on MacRumors about Transit updates.


2 000 000, the approx. number of cities in the world
150 comments per post. They'll be rolling in the dough.

But seriously, once Apple starts rolling out more than one city a week, MacRumors will group several cities into one post. Just as they do with Flyover cities.
[doublepost=1461004466][/doublepost]
This is going to take forever if they keep adding cities this slow... How small is the maps team for gods sake? And is there just one team for the whole planet???
They have recently gone from one city every few months to one city a week. That suggests they are getting better at integrating the data. It won't progress fast enough to satisfy everyone, but it appears they are accelerating.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SBlue1 Avatar
120 months ago
This is going to take forever if they keep adding cities this slow... How small is the maps team for gods sake? And is there just one team for the whole planet???
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tylsimp Avatar
120 months ago
Seems like all bus systems in the Seattle area are integrated too. Which is good, since it's a massive jumbled mess around here.
If you use the Orca NFC card, you can transfer between King County Metro Busses, Seattle Department of Transit Street Cars, and Sound Transit busses and rail at no extra cost for 90 minutes. If you pay in cash, ST offers no transfers, and KC paper transfers are only valid on KC busses. The Monorail is unfortunately privately owned and not part of any fare integration, being set up as a tourist thing, $2.50 for a one way ticket, though monthly passes are available for the few that use it to commute. Hopefully this will change in the near future, because it does run frequently and is certainly the fastest way possible to get between downtown and Seattle Center/Queen Anne neighborhood.
[doublepost=1461025093][/doublepost]This is super exciting! AM is a lot more aesthetically pleasing than GMaps and I think the UI is a little better, so it's great to finally have an alternative.
This actually would have been much more useful before Link Light Rail started running to the University of Washington last month. Before that, I had to rely on busses and time schedules... now I know a train will be there every 6-10 minutes, depending on the time of day. I just walk down there and hop on!

I will have to test this out sometime, though. Last time I tried Google's transit directions - a year or two ago - it didn't handle Seattle's downtown transit tunnel very well. Google tried to steer me towards a stop that the bus in question (a 73, in all likelihood) didn't use except late at night. :D
GMaps and Apple Maps are almost certainly using the same resources from King County/OneBusAway for bus routes, schedules, stops and realtime arrival. In my experience, there are certainly issues, but not enough to possibly make me go back to learning and researching timetables. 99% good. Apple Maps is prettier. It'll probably be as buggy.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Shirasaki Avatar
120 months ago
Other Washington. The Capitol is the city in D.C., and the state on the other side of the country is the one with Seattle and rain.
Oh, my bad. Know little about United States. Thank you.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jakeoster Avatar
120 months ago
Why is this whole transit initiative taking so long?
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Ballis Avatar
120 months ago
Slowest rollout ever. Step it up Apple.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
iPadOS 26 App Windowing

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
Logitech Logo Feature

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
iOS 26 Screens

Here Are All the iOS 26 Features That Require iPhone 15 Pro or Newer

Thursday June 12, 2025 4:53 am PDT by
With iOS 26, Apple has introduced some major changes to the iPhone experience, headlined by the new Liquid Glass redesign that's available across all compatible devices. However, several of the update's features are exclusive to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models, since they rely on Apple Intelligence. The following features are powered by on-device large language models and machine...
CarPlay Liquid Glass Dark

Apple to Let iPhone Users Watch Videos on CarPlay Screen While Parked

Thursday June 12, 2025 6:16 am PDT by
Apple this week announced that iPhone users will soon be able to watch videos right on the CarPlay screen in supported vehicles. iPhone users will be able to wirelessly stream videos to the CarPlay screen using AirPlay, according to Apple. For safety reasons, video playback will only be available when the vehicle is parked, to prevent distracted driving. The connected iPhone will be able to...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

Hate iOS 26's Liquid Glass Design? Here's How to Tone It Down

Wednesday June 11, 2025 4:22 pm PDT by
iOS 26 features a whole new design material that Apple calls Liquid Glass, with a focus on transparency that lets the content on your display shine through the controls. If you're not a fan of the look, or are having trouble with readability, there is a step that you can take to make things more opaque without entirely losing out on the new look. Apple has multiple Accessibility options that ...
Mac Studio Feature

Apple Begins Selling Refurbished Mac Studio With M4 Max and M3 Ultra Chips at a Discount

Thursday June 12, 2025 10:14 am PDT by
Apple today added Mac Studio models with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips to its online certified refurbished store in the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and many European countries, for the first time since they were released in March. As usual for refurbished Macs, prices are discounted by approximately 15% compared to the equivalent new models on Apple's online store. Note that Apple's ...
iOS 26 Feature

Apple Seeds Revised iOS 26 Developer Beta to Fix Battery Issue

Friday June 13, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with a revised version of the first iOS 26 beta for testing purposes. The update is only available for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, so if you're running iOS 26 on an iPhone 14 or earlier, you won't see the revised beta. Registered developers can download the new beta software through the Settings app on each device. The revised beta addresses an...