12-30-2021, 06:18 PM
(12-29-2021, 05:08 PM)ac3r Wrote: It's a phone app, dude. You don't need a whole team working full-time jobs unless your business model is to make money. You can still provide a good application for free if that's your goal and intention. And it can still provide a good product. Nobody pays for Linux and is the backbone of virtually everything we use by virtue of the fact it's free and open source.
Suckers pay for software and greedy bastards expect suckers to pay for it.
Assuming that it's just a phone app is very narrow-minded. Transit is not just a phone app. As an end-user the only parts you see are the phone app.
Behind the scenes, there's an extensive load-balanced backend infrastructure that:
- processes the "GO" function data that augments existing or replaces missing GTFS-RT data,
- pulls appropriate data from a replication-pooled database that caches GTFS data as you can't rely on GTFS data feeds to have 100% uptime,
- processes GTFS feeds from hundreds of transit agencies to ensure the cache is always up-to-date
- pools inputted user data to provide an approximation of crowding.
- handles integrations with bikeshare, carshare, rideshare and other integrated services.
- handles the logic of trip-planning and packaging the data in a way that the phone app can use.
- handles the backend logic of mobile payments for supported agencies and partners.
All that behind the scenes infrastructure to support the millions of active users of the app can easily cost hundreds of thousands of dollars annually just for hosting let alone maintaining and improving it. All so that your "phone app" can be snappy and responsive on a wide array of devices.