TrackMyStop - Frequently Asked Question

1. Why did you develop TrackMyStop?

   While traveling by train:

   Have you ever wondered where you have reached?

   Did you loose track of time or your stop while reading a book or talking to a fellow passenger?

   Have you ever missed your stop?

   TrackMyStop was developed to make every train passenger’s journey easy, safe and relaxing and to ensure that you never ever miss your destination station stop.

   TrackMyStop also aims to encourage you to take a train instead of driving or flying to save on fuel, reduce congestion on roads and also reduce carbon emissions in the process.

2. When was the idea of TrackMyStop conceived?

   The developer of this App, Makarand Diwan, has been travelling for business on a regular weekly basis from Princeton Junction to Boston Route 128. On one of his trips, while coming back home, he fell asleep on a New Jersey transit train he boarded at New York Penn Station. He was jet lagged due to a recent foreign trip to Asia. He missed his destination stop, Princeton Junction, and woke up only when the train reached the next stop. The idea of this app was born on that day.

3. What can I do with TrackMyStop?

   You can use TrackMyStop while traveling on train routes supported by the App. You can select your train route to view all stations on that route. You can select one of the stations on this train route as your destination stop. TrackMyStop will show you the progress of your journey. It will show you how far your current GPS location is from the destination stop. If available, the app will also show the current speed of your train and also city vicinity and state through which you are traveling.

   You can select an alert distance, for example, 5 miles. TrackMyStop will alert you when you reach a location, which is within 5 miles radius from your destination stop.

   At any time during your travel, you can choose to SMS your family members, friends or taxi cab driver, who are coming to give you a ride at the destination stop. The app will automatically form the SMS message showing your current location and how far you are from your selected destination. However, the SMS will be actually sent only after you press the send button. You can also use this feature to inform your family or friends about your safe arrival at your destination.

4. Which train routes are supported in TrackMyStop?

   Version 3.0 of TrackMyStop supports the following train routes:

   1. Amtrak - Most routes are supported
   2. BART - Bay Area Rapid Transit in San Francisco Bay Area
   3. BART - Oakland AirBART
   4. Boston - MBTA Commuter Rail
   5. Boston - Logan Airport Shuttle
   6. CALTRAIN - CALTRAIN in California
   7. CTA - Chicago Transit Authority the L or EL trains
   8. DART - Dallas Area Rapid Transit
   9. MTA - LIRR - Long Island Rail Road
   10. MTA - Metro-North
   11. New Jersey Transit
   12. Philadelphia area - SEPTA Regional Rail and

5. How does TrackMyStop know the location of my destination stop?

   TrackMyStop recognizes all major train stations on the supported train routes and it knows the GPS coordinates of these stations.

6. How does TrackMyStop calculate the distance between the current location and the destination stop?

   TrackMyStop is not a turn-by-turn GPS Navigation application like the one we use in cars. Therefore, TrackMyStop neither requires your very accurate location nor does it need to calculate the distance between current location and the destination stop in terms of the actual rail miles. The App uses the distance between the current GPS coordinates of your device and the GPS coordinates of your destination station stop. When you are far away from your destination, this distance is not very accurate. However, as you travel closer to your station stop this distance becomes more and more accurate.

7. How often does TrackMyStop update the distance between my current location and my destination stop?

   TrackMyStop updates the distance about every 0.5 mile/0.8 km or 1 mile/1.6 km or 2 miles/3.2 km, depending upon the tracking frequency selected.

8. Can I use TrackMyStop to plan my Trip?

   TrackMyStop is not a tool for planning your journey. It neither knows nor uses any train schedules or advisories published by the various railroad companies or mass transit systems. However, you can still use TrackMyStop while not traveling on a train to:

   • To get a general idea of the train route you are planning to travel on and to view all station stops on that route.
   • To determine which station stop is the closest to your current location. (This is not the actual distance to reach the station stop by road).
   
   
9. I have already reached my Station Stop but why is TrackMyStop still showing that my stop is 0.4 miles away?

   Since TrackMyStop updates your location every half mile/1 mile or 2 miles depending upon your preference of tracking frequency, it calculates the radius within which your stop is only when a new location is received from your device. So it is possible that you reach the destination stop before the next location update is available to TrackMyStop from your device.

10. How can I turn off TrackMyStop after I reach my destination?

    There are two ways to turn off tracking within TrackMyStop. These are:

    • You can end tracking at any time from the “TrackMyStop” screen by choosing the “Done” button, which appears in the top right hand side on the screen.
    • Using the multi-tasking window you can kill TrackMyStop. This action will also result in TrackMyStop not searching for your location any more unless you restart tracking your stop again.
    
    

    It is recommended that you use one of these methods after you reach your destination to turn off the app and save your battery charge.

For more information about TrackMyStop, please explore additional help using the following links:

• How to use TrackMyStop?
• Limitations
• Privacy
• Supported Railroads

To view the high-level overview of the TrackMyStop functionality, click here.