Metro is now offering access to real-time information on trains on its redesigned mobile site (http://content.wmata.com/mobile). This is the same information that’s displayed on station platforms, indicating the time until the next several trains.

You can bookmark the pages for your favorite stations, making it very easy to quickly get the information. If I know the next train isn’t for another 7-8 minutes, I can make better use of that time. In other cases, like late at night when service is infrequent, I’d take the subway over a cab if I knew that the next train was in five minutes.

It has quickly become one of my most frequently used mobile applications.

Oddly, the same information isn’t available on Metro’s Web site. (You have to use a WAP emulator to access the site.)