This is a write up of how to use one of the many features of the Clever Commute service. See also:

• a list of all the How To's
• About Clever Commute

• How to Send An Alert
• How to take a screenshot
• How to find out what version you are running

Improved End-user Experience

• Added contextual train details to Recent Alerts
• Added train details to push notifications
• Removed train details from click-through
• Improved CSS / look-and-feel for Recent Alerts
• Added App Help menu option

New Premium Features

• Holiday reminders / Advice
• Added train details to Premium e-mails
• Improved rendering of train location and origin when viewing on a map

Bug Fixes

• Reset iOS badge when the alert expires
• Train picklist on certain devices
• Fixed link to FAQ
• Nickname length error message (and confusion with zip code)
• Added “None Selected” option for “Your Train”

Some alerts are only of interest to riders on the route where it happens. Other alerts are of broader interest. Clever Commute supports this need two ways

1. Some users (including the Admin [Conductor Josh]) have the ability to direct an alert to a wider audience. These are the so-called Rail Warriors.
2. Clever Commmute technolgy uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to automatically determine if a message is of broader interest.

In either situation, these cross-shared posts are labeled in 2 ways (see picture below)

• The broadcast icon to the left of the route name
• The word Source followed by the color-coded name of the route on which it originated

This alert was generated by a user who has Montclair-Boonton Line as their Primary route.     This alert was generated by a user who has Gladstone-Morristown Line as thier Primary route

Here are the steps 

All – Visit our Release Notes to learn the number of our latest version

iOS

1. Launch  App Store
2. Tap on the Updates icon tab at lower right
3. Tap on Purchased button in the upper section the screen
4. Scroll to find Clever Commute
   You will see the version listed right below the name/description of the app

If you are not running the latest, then follow these steps.

Android

1. Go to Settings
2. Tap Applications
3. Tap Application Manager
4. Scroll to find Clever Commute …and click on it
   You will see the version number at the top of the screen

If you are not running the latest, then follow these steps.

…then you are one of us who are making the to/from to NYC when many others are on vacation 🙁

But we have good news!

Now that version 2.0 of the FREE Clever Commute app hit BOTH the Android and Apple app stores, we are adding features like crazy!
We’re up to version 2.1.5 (are YOU?)…and one cool thing for you to know about is the real-time departureboard.

We have gone way beyond crowdsourced alerts and we now take data directly from LIRR, Metro North and NJ Transit and put it right in the app…for FREE.

NJT riders get an added bonus: It’s personalized so that it only shows you trains you care about…and automatically shows you “AM” vs. “PM” views of he data!

Please check it out by clicking on the main menu in the app (the so-called “hamburger” at the top left of the screen).

(For now, we’re being quiet about all the neat new premium features in the app. More on that soon).

In the meantime, please use the app to share and browse info…and definitely let us know if you have any questions, comments or feedback (feedback at clevercommute daht com)

Thanks!

–Conductor Josh

We love our premium users…and we never want to see you leave.  But as you may know, we rely on Google to collect the funds from you.

If they try to charge the card they have on file, and it fails, you will get a letter such as the Payment Declined one below. If the issue is not resolved in a timely manner, then Google (not Clever Commute) will cancel the subscription and send you the Subscription Cancelled letter.

Why does this situation happen?

• The credit card that you use to fund your Clever Commute Premium service (at Google Play) is not longer valid (e.g., reported as lost, stolen or was otherwise deactivated)
• Google, for whatever reason, determined that the order
  • was high risk (their term…not ours)
  • did not comply with one of their policies

As a reference, here are examples of the e-mails that Google sends (click on image to enlarge)

Payment Declined	Subscription Cancelled

Clever Commute Premium has dozens of amazing features.
This page explains one or more of them...

NOTE: Information on the main page of the Clever Commute departureboard comes directly from the transit provider and does indeed vary based on the robustness of their respective feeds.
Also users of our premium service may have access to more data than users of the basic.
However, all commuters benefit from a custom & real-time view of this schedule/departure information.

Need to know:

LIRR/NJT – Based on the user’s Origin and Destination values (via the Settings => My Commute menu option), the user sees their hometown departureboard in the morning…and their work-side view in the evening. These may be reversed at any time via the buttons atop the actual departurebaord page.
Users of the free app are shown their primary route both the morning and evening commute.
Users of the our premium service have a default of My 3 (for both AM & PM)…and may select other options as desired.

Metro North does not provide developers a robust data feed. Therefore these riders always see the Destination (NYC) view (for their primary route).
However, premium users do enjoy many additional features as described below.

Key Features of the Premium Departureboard 

• See the real-time geolocation of a train (NJT)
• See full stats/metrics about a PM train (NJT, LIRR)
  This includes 
  • Real-time, dynamic prediction of what track the train will be on
  • Full track history (detail & summary…as a table and as a pie chart)
  • Insight into how far in advance the track is announced
  • Configurable to show 5-60 days of data

Clever Commute Premium is sold as an in-app purchase via the Apple App Store or Google Play.

It is a subscription product, with a cost of just $3.33 a month (billed annually).

NOTE: There are currently 8 ways to qualify to have the subscription free waived (and therefore get the premium service for free).

The basic app is free…and is a great tool for any commuter. However, its functionality is limited to providing user-generated alerts on one commuter line…delivered as push notifications.

Below is a high-level comparison of our basic and premium services. Please clock through here to see the complete list of the dozens of amazing  premium features.

Clever Commute Premium has dozens of amazing features.
This page explains one or more of them...

Open the Departureboard (click on picture to enlarge)

1, 2, 3, 4 – Clever Commute uses current time and your Origin / Destination from your app Settings to show you the time-sensitive view from  your home station (yes – we reverse it for the trip home)

5 – Real-time ETA from the transit provider

6 – Click on the pin to see the location of this train…

Click on the #6 – geolocation icon

<== There it is…on a Google map!