The SNCF Assistant app, appreciated by users for its ergonomics and thoughtful appearance, is no longer available. Something that upsets his followers, who, however, have alternatives to replace this information tool.
End the round of applause for the SNCF assistant. This app, launched in 2015, allowed travelers to see all the information related to the traffic of their lines in real time, save favorite routes and stations, or even know the schedule for each axis.
When the app was discontinued last July, SNCF advised Tech&Co to discontinue the assistant and focus on SNCF Connect, the company’s official app. In particular, according to the company, SNCF Assistant was used “15 to 20 times less” than SNCF Connect.
However, is SNCF Connect a good alternative to Assistant SNCF? Not so for users. The latter believe that the SNCF flagship application is not necessarily intuitive. But for its part, SNCF ensures that “SNCF Connect has all the key features that Assistant appreciates, such as passenger information, route search and user account management.”
Same information about SNCF Connect
And it is true that despite the difference in appearance and after a short adaptation time, we can find the same information in both apps. The SNCF Connect home page allows you to display your favorite route, for example, as well as the nearest departures from your station, although each time you have to scroll through each menu to see the information that appears.
A tab containing line plans, and in particular a breakdown and work summary, is also available at the bottom of the SNCF Connect home page.
The SNCF Connect app also allows residents of Île-de-France to top up their Navigo pass directly from their smartphone, unlike Assistant SNCF, which only allowed them to import and scan tickets.
Other simpler applications
For some Internet users, the big black point is often the difficulty of using SNCF Connect, an application that combines many functions, since it is intended for all train users in France.
But for those more accustomed to daily travel in large cities and public transport users, SNCF still has an app under the 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 for main lines, transit trains and RER only, but in a much more general way than with Assistant SNCF.
Tools for every use
For public transport users, CityMapper can also be a good alternative to Assistant SNCF. CityMapper really offers to discover the best routes in eight French cities (Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Strasbourg, Nantes, Bordeaux, Lille and Toulouse) and their suburbs.
The free app also displays real-time traffic status (but not upstream traffic) and especially the nearest routes available for your daily commute (recorded in advance).
By activating geolocation, you can also find the nearest transportation routes around your home.
For residents of Ile-de-France, these functions are also present in other specialized applications, such as Transit, which offers to follow all the following departures of the surrounding transport. A distinction is made between real-time information and theoretical deviations with cancellation information. However, the free app 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 app and the RATP app (“Bonjour RATP”) also offer detailed itineraries for passengers in the Ile-de-France region on all metro, bus, RER or Transilien networks. while offering the possibility of buying transport tickets.
Some free apps like Mooovit also offer more interactivity, 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 Assistant SNCF alternatives. It remains to find the one that will best meet your expectations, even if it means choosing from several of them, in order to get the optimal information for arriving at your destination.