Riding the TTC is about to get more annoying as Rocketman app calls it quits

If you take the TTC on a regular basis, you likely rely on one of a few real-time resources to help you predict when the next bus or streetcar is going to show up at any given stop.

Unfortunately, the team that runs one of the most popular among these third-party tools has announced that they'll be shutting it down permanently next month.

Rocketman is what many would call the OG in the Toronto transit app scene, showing where vehicles are along any given route, providing countdowns for when riders can expect them at a stop, and more recently, adding passenger count data to indicate how packed a given bus or streetcar is.

But, as useful and well-loved as the app is, a release posted to the Rocketman website this week reveals that it will be no more as of November 18, 2022 — which will impact commuters not just in Toronto, but in the dozens of other Canadian regions it provides services for in almost every province.

Terrible news: they’re shutting down the Rocketman app, the crucial public transit app that removed the mystery of when the next TTC vehicle is coming pic.twitter.com/nr6stC6Ue4

— Jesse Hawken (@jessehawken) October 13, 2022

"Since 2019, the Rocketman team has worked hard to provide commuters peace of mind. We've built a strong community of Canadians going from A to B and are incredibly proud of the value we've delivered. We’ve sadly had to make the difficult decision to shut down the Rocketman app (iOS and Android) and its services," the page reads.

"Thank you for years of feedback and your trust — the team has had an unbelievable amount of fun building enhancements to make commuting easier and more enjoyable."

The message is quite adorably signed by "Mission Control," and also provides some suggestions for alternative tools to use: Transit, Moovit and Google Maps (TTC Watch and Citymapper are also good ones).

But making the switch to something else will definitely be a heartbreaking and difficult process for those of us who have long been avid users of Rocketman.