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
126 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
126 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
126 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
126 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
126 months ago
Why is this whole transit initiative taking so long?
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Ballis Avatar
126 months ago
Slowest rollout ever. Step it up Apple.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.4 and iOS 27 Features Revealed in New Leak

Friday December 12, 2025 10:56 am PST by
Macworld's Filipe Espósito today revealed a handful of features that Apple is allegedly planning for iOS 26.4, iOS 27, and even iOS 28. The report said the features are referenced within the code for a leaked internal build of iOS 26 that is not meant to be seen by the public. However, it appears that Espósito and/or his sources managed to gain access to it, providing us with a sneak peek...
Apple Logo Top Half

Early iOS 26 Software Leak Uncovers Dozens of Upcoming Apple Features

Monday December 15, 2025 3:05 pm PST by
Software from an iPhone prototype running an early build of iOS 26 leaked last week, giving us a glimpse at future Apple devices and iOS features. We recapped device codenames in our prior article, and now we have a list of some of the most notable feature flags that were found in the software code. In some cases, it's obvious what the feature flags are referring to, while some are more...
apple beta 26 lineup

Apple Leak Confirms Work on Foldable iPhone, AirTag 2, and Dozens More Devices

Monday December 15, 2025 2:05 pm PST by
Last week, details about unreleased Apple devices and future iOS features were shared by Macworld. This week, we learned where the information came from, plus we have more findings from the leak. As it turns out, an Apple prototype device running an early build of iOS 26 was sold, and the person who bought it shared the software. The OS has a version number of 23A5234w, and the first...
Apple Foldable Thumb

Leak Reveals Foldable iPhone Details

Monday December 15, 2025 9:09 am PST by
The first foldable iPhone will feature a series of design and hardware firsts for Apple, according to details shared by the Weibo leaker known as Digital Chat Station. According to a new post, via machine translation, Apple is developing what the leaker describes as a "wide foldable" device, a term used to refer to a horizontally oriented, book-style foldable with a large internal display....
iOS 26

iOS 26.3 Beta 1 Features: What's New So Far

Monday December 15, 2025 4:23 pm PST by
Apple is testing iOS 26.3, the next version of iOS 26 that will launch around January. Since iOS 26.3's testing is happening over the holidays, it is a smaller update with fewer features than we've seen in prior betas. We've rounded up what's new so far, and we'll add to our list with subsequent betas if we come across any other features. Transfer to Android Apple is making it simpler...
iOS 26

Apple Releases iOS 26.2 With Alarms for Reminders, Lock Screen Changes, Enhanced Safety Alerts and More

Friday December 12, 2025 10:10 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 26.2, the second major update to the iOS 26 operating system that came out in September, iOS 26.2 comes a little over a month after iOS 26.1 launched. ‌iOS 26‌.2 is compatible with the ‌iPhone‌ 11 series and later, as well as the second-generation ‌iPhone‌ SE. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones over-the-air by going to Settings >...
iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features on Your iPhone

Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon. Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week. iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
airpods max 2024 colors

AirPods Max 2 Likely to Offer These 10 New Features

Monday December 15, 2025 7:41 am PST by
Apple released the AirPods Max on December 15, 2020, meaning the over-ear headphones launched five years ago today. While the AirPods Max were updated with a USB-C port and new color options last year, followed by support for lossless audio and ultra-low latency audio this year, the headphones lack some of the features that have been introduced for newer generations of the regular AirPods and the ...