Jesmond residents need not fear missing the last Metro home – if they buy an iPhone app that has just been launched. Next Metro shows the user when their next train is due, for all 60 stations in the Tyne and Wear Metro network. It also uses the location-aware features of the iPhone to tell a person the ten nearest stations to their location, and includes maps showing how to reach them.

Next Metro iPhone app

Next Metro, which costs £1.79, is the result of a collaboration between Gateshead-based digital agency Never Odd or Even and North-East software developer Alex Reid. It follows the agency’s award-nominated Ask the Hoff iPhone app, produced with TV star David Hasselhoff, and their Instant Cities range of travel guides, the most recent of which is Instant Boston.

“We travel on the Metro on a daily basis, so we know there’s nothing more irritating than reaching the platform just as the train doors close,” said Paul Smith, founder of Never Odd or Even.

“The first version of Next Metro was created by Alex, so he wouldn’t miss the train to work. We realised that tens of thousands of other passengers would find it useful for the same reasons, so together we created an essential iPhone app to help local commuters and visitors to Tyne and Wear.

“Best of all, the app pays for itself the first time you don’t miss the last Metro home after a night out, because it saves you paying an expensive taxi fare.”

There are also plans to release versions of Next Metro – which uses live timetable information supplied by Traveline NextBuses – for Android mobile phones and BlackBerrys.