If you use your iPhone in Japan and have used the Ekitan app, you may have noticed that they have pulled out the rug from under you: they are no longer a free service. If you try to use your free version, they let you input stations and times like before, but when you attempt a search, you get a message telling you that “the service has terminated” (サービス終了しました。). When you dismiss the message, you are taken to a web page explaining that the app is now being charged for and you must re-download it from the App Store. The free version seems to still be available and can even be updated–but it won’t work. You gotta pay ¥350 for the working version.

Well, that might have been unfortunately necessary, except that now there’s an alternative: Yahoo Transit, available from the Japanese iTunes Store, for free. What’s more is that the Yahoo app is a lot better–I would have switched anyway, had I known about it. All the more mysterious that Ekitan should suddenly start charging for their app (unless they added new features themselves, but I don’t feel like going to the trouble of translating the whole description just to find out).

The Yahoo app has everything that Ekitan had, but includes some nice new extra features. One is the ability to use GPS to scan for nearby stations instead of typing them in, an excellent time-saver (and even a good way to locate nearby stations you may not have been aware of). The top field (greyed out) is where you tap to enter a station name; the second field is where you tap to get a list of local stations. (The third multi-line field is the list of stations you searched previously.)

Unlike Ekitan, where you have to navigate a Hiragana menu to find your station name, you can just type in your station name directly–a much easier way, most times. Another nice point is the ability to type in names in English and have them resolve into Japanese, just like on the Yahoo Transit web site.

Of course, if there are several stations with the same name or partial name, you can choose from the list:

Like Ekitan, Yahoo Transit remembers stations that you searched for before, so as to maintain a handy quick-find list of often-used stations. Unlike Ekitan, Yahoo’s app allows you to erase station names you don’t want to keep–a very nice addition.

And finally, the app allows you to search additional transportation services, including domestic airline and expressway bus lines–good for long-distance travel. Also, you can turn any one of these off.

And then, of course, you get the results, with all the needed info.

Like I said, a very nice app. I’m kind glad Ekitan shut me out, now I have a much nicer alternative.