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Apple has been touted to be planning to bring built-in transit directions into its native Maps app in iOS 9.
Transit directions were abandoned when Apple replaced GoogleMaps with its own platform as the default navigation app back in 2012.
Apple reportedly made a late-stage decision to take transit navigation out of iOS 8, and instead intends to launch it with the next update of the mobile OS.
The new direction will offer the user the ability to plan trips, and get estimated travel times for most common modes of transportation. It would also offer multiple trip options, as well as a special map view showing local transit stops alongside the standard, Hybrid and Satellite visualization options.
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Apple acquired HopStop and Embark, two companies that have built transit mapping and directions apps for iPhone in the past. Both those acquisitions came to light in 2013, but so far we’ve yet to see their impact in either public- or developer-facing features of iOS. Apple was also hiring transit-focused software engineers just very recently in April, so while it’s certain the company wants to bring this to market, we’ll have to wait and see whether that happens in iOS 9, or whether it’s held off for another later release.