METRO 2025-01

Since we’re resetting some more digits this time, this will be more than a monthly summary.

This year two countries will join the Schengen Area, which means travels in Europe is getting easier, and a company selling glass will end support for their operating system named ‘Ten’. Just as Bimba started supporting Transitous, which makes travelling in Europe easier, but we’re not stopping. Instead, we’ll go to infinity and beyond.

Recap

Previous year started with timetable for Brussels. The goal was to make it on time for FOSDEM and the deadline was met. This paved the way for providers who hide their realtime data behind custom APIs, such as Brussels and Berlin. With changes from January, their data could be fully integrated.

GZM turned out to be one provider that really tests your patience. They stopped publishing their data, then changed the system. Finally, it was possible to integrate again

The backend server saw two releases, Clockwork Orange named after Fo-thalamh Ghlaschu, and Downtown, one of Singapore’s MRT lines.

In April—in time for All Fools’— METRO was launched; in other news, Bimba got accepted to Weblate, and a proper domain of bimba.app was acquired.

We’re reaching further and further. First, Calgary was added, then Rock Hill, SC. Finally, the first nationwide timetable of The Netherlands with Jastrzębie-Zdrój and the narrow-gauge rail in Środa Wielkopolska. It wasn’t, however, until Transitous became one of Bmiba’s sources, that the coverage became global.

Other functions added in 2024 include filtering, alerts, and favourite stops, which saw a come-back from previous versions.

Thanks

An artist is nothing without their audience, and so is an app creator without the community. Without Y’all—those who give ideas, those who translate, those who point out imperfections, those who just download and run Bimba—thank You! It would be a lonely ride.

Finance

Bimba doesn’t earn for itself. And it’s fine. At this point in time we don’t ask for donations. The following numbers are left here just for transparency.

• bimba.app domain – $12.85/year
• apiote.xyz domain (shared with personal matters) – $10.00/year
• migadu mail provider (shared with personal matters) – $19.00/year
• energy for the server behind the counter (shared with personal matters) – ~$45.00/year

In total: $86.85/year (shared with personal matters)

Way ahead

Currently, Transitous is moving to version 2 of MOTIS, which will need to be supported by Bimba, but it will enable us to implement journey planing.

For future there are big and smaller ideas—caching, moving completely to bimba.app, crowdsourcing data, and many more.