End of applause for the SNCF assistant. This application, launched in 2015, allowed travelers to find out in real time all the information related to the traffic on their lines, save favorite routes and stations, or even find out the working hours of each axis.
When the app was no longer available last July, SNCF asked Tech&Co to end the wizard in order to focus its activities on SNCF Connect, the company’s official app. Especially since SNCF Assistant was used “between 15 and 20 times less” than SNCF Connect, according to the company.
However, is SNCF Connect a good alternative to SNCF Assistant? For users, not really. The latter consider that the flagship application of the SNCF is not necessarily intuitive. But, for its part, the SNCF ensures that “SNCF Connect has all the key functions appreciated by the Assistant, such as passenger information, route search and user account management.”
Same information on SNCF Connect
And it is true that despite the difference in aesthetic appearance, and after a short adaptation time, we can find the same information in both applications. The SNCF Connect home page allows you, for example, to display a favorite route, as well as upcoming departures from your station, although each time you’ll have to scroll through each menu to see the information appear.
At the bottom of the SNCF Connect home page there is also a tab containing the plans of the lines and, in particular, the summary of breakdowns and works.
The SNCF Connect app also allows Île-de-France residents to top up their Navigo pass directly from their smartphone, unlike SNCF Assistant, which only allowed tickets to be imported and scanned.
Other simpler applications
For some Internet users, the big black spot often remains the complexity of using SNCF Connect, the application that brings together many features since it is intended for all train users in France.
But for those more accustomed to daily commuting in big cities and users of public transport, the SNCF still has an app under its elbow, albeit less well-known: “My SNCF station”.
This application allows you to enter your favorite station and get all the practical information about it. It also allows you to know the next departures and arrivals, only for the main lines, transiliens and RER, but in a much more summarized way than with Assistant SNCF.
Tools for every use
For public transport users, the CityMapper app could also be a good alternative to the SNCF Assistant. In fact, CityMapper offers to discover the best routes in eight French cities (Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Strasbourg, Nantes, Bordeaux, Lille and Toulouse), as well as their suburbs.
The free app also shows real-time traffic status (but not upstream works) and, in particular, the next available routes for your daily commutes (pre-recorded).
By activating geolocation, you will also be able to find the next steps of transport located around your home.
For the inhabitants of Ile-de-France, these functions are present in other dedicated applications, for example in Transit, which offers to follow all the next departures of the surrounding transport. A distinction is made between information in real time and theoretical outputs with information on cancellations. The free app, however, requires a premium subscription if you want to check more than three lines around you.
It should be noted that the Ile-de-France Mobilités application and that of the RATP (“Bonjour RATP”) also offer detailed journeys for passengers in the Ile-de-France region, on all metro, bus, RER or transilien. offering at the same time the possibility of buying transport tickets.
Some freemium apps, like Mooovit, also offer more interactivity by sending you a notification when your bus is approaching and giving you turn-by-turn directions, similar to Google Maps.
Therefore, there is no shortage of alternatives for Assistant SNCF. It remains to find the one that best meets your expectations, even if it means choosing between several to obtain the optimal information to reach your destination.
Source: BFM TV
