User Guide

1. Pick a stop and direction

On the top screen, choose the stop you want to board from and the direction you're heading.

• Continue where you left off: The most recently selected stop and direction reopen next time. A shared link opens the stop specified in that link instead.
• Search by name: Type a stop name (e.g. "Tenmonkan") to see matching suggestions.
• Find nearby: Shows the closest stop to you. Your coordinates are used on your device and are not sent to ShidenNow's server.
• Find on map: Tap a pin, then choose a direction. When you open the map, it also tries to show your current location, so your browser may ask for location permission. You can still select stop pins if you do not allow it. The map loads tiles from OpenStreetMap for the area you view.
• Choose a direction: Towards Kagoshima-Ekimae, or towards Taniyama / Kōrimoto.
• Favorites: Star a stop and direction for one-tap access next time (up to 6). Press and hold a favorite to drag and reorder it.
• Nearby departures: When your location is available, cards for up to two nearby stops within 3 km show the next departures by direction and platform. Tap the platform you are at.

2. View the departure board

Once you pick a stop and direction, upcoming trams are listed soonest first.

• Line: Line 1 (towards Taniyama) and Line 2 (towards Kōrimoto) are color-coded.
• Minutes remaining: Time until the next departure, refreshed automatically every 10 seconds.
• Arriving soon: The scheduled departure time is close.
• Last service: A badge such as "Last to Taniyama" or a stop-to-stop section marks the last service to that destination or section. It does not necessarily mean the last tram on the whole line.
• If service has ended for the day, the first tram tomorrow is shown instead.

3. Route and arrival times

Tap a tram card to see which stops it will pass and roughly when it arrives at each one. You can switch between "from here" and "from the start of the line," and the approximate time to the terminus is also shown. These times are based on the published timetable and don't include real-time delays. The compact route map above the cards shows your stop and approaching trams; short-turn destinations are labelled on the map.

Tap a stop beyond where you'll board to set it as your destination — the summary then shows the time to that stop instead of the terminus (tap the same stop again to clear it).

4. Find a tram by destination

Choose where you are going to list trams you can take from now, soonest first. Direct trams and routes with one change are searched. There are two ways in.

• From a departure board: Tap "Find a tram by destination" and choose a destination. Regardless of the selected direction, the board then lists up to 5 trams from that stop to your destination. "Change" picks another destination and "Clear" returns to the normal board. The destination is kept for each stop until you close the tab.
• From the top screen: Tap "Find by destination", then choose where you board and where you are going (up to 8 results). The boarding stop can be chosen by name, on the map, from your current location, or from favorites and the last stop you opened. The ⇅ button swaps them. "View departures at ◯◯" opens that stop's board already searching for the same destination; going back (or tapping "Change Boarding") returns to Find by destination.

Besides stop names, some places can be searched by name, such as Kagoshima University, Yamakataya, Amu Plaza and the Sakurajima Ferry. For a place, you are guided to whichever registered nearby stop you reach first; walking time between the stop and the place is not included. Your 5 most recent destinations are listed.

Each card shows the departure time, time remaining, the estimated time at the stop where you get off and the journey time. For a change, it shows where to change, the wait and the second tram, and notes when the two lines use different platforms, as at Takami-baba and Kōrimoto. Tap a card to open its route details with your stop to get off already selected; tap the change row for the second tram.

The search uses today's timetable. Changes are only at the same stop, with at least 2 minutes allowed. Arrival times are estimated from the timetable in the same way as the route details (a terminus is estimated from typical section times and marked "~"), and delays are not considered. Routes with two or more changes, walking to another stop to change, and buses or other transport are not searched. A route with a change appears only if it arrives more than 5 minutes earlier than direct trams leaving at the same time or later. On a departure board, a card also shows "Possible delay" when its first tram shows it on the board for the selected direction.

5. Report or check delays

If a tram hasn't arrived after its scheduled time, tap "Not yet arrived" on the card to report it. Your report is shown immediately on your screen. Once at least two reports are recorded, other users see a "possible delay" indicator — a lightweight, crowd-sourced signal. Reports are accepted only during the first and second minutes after the scheduled departure: for example, a 10:00 departure can be reported from 10:01 through 10:02. At the scheduled minute, the card says that the tram may already have left, but reporting is not available yet.

If the same tram was already reported delayed at an earlier stop, a lighter "possible delay reported near ◯◯" note appears on its card before it even reaches your stop — a heads-up while it's still on its way.

6. Check service alerts and refresh

If the Transportation Bureau publishes an alert for the line you are viewing, it appears above the departure board with a link to the official site. Tap "Refresh" while online to fetch the timetable, holiday information, delay reports and service status again. If Auto-locate on open is enabled and location permission has already been granted, it also checks the nearby-stop suggestion again. Service status can be cached on the server for up to 20 minutes, and no alert does not guarantee normal operation. The countdown itself updates automatically every 10 seconds.

7. Switch to a nearby stop

Turn on "Auto-locate on open" in Settings on the top screen. If you're closer to a different stop than the one currently shown, a banner suggesting that nearby stop appears on the departure board. Tap it to switch — the direction you were viewing is kept if that stop offers it. The nearby cards on the top screen are also available when a location is known.

8. Browse the full timetable

"View timetable" shows the full schedule for the selected stop and direction, split into weekday / Saturday / holiday. At stops served by both lines, Lines 1 and 2 appear together in one table, colour-coded, with short-turn destinations noted.

9. Share a stop

The "Share" button in the header opens a sharing menu for a direct link to that stop and direction. From there, choose the native OS share sheet if available or copy the link yourself. A QR code is also shown, handy for someone to scan on the spot.

10. Add to Home Screen

Adding the app to your home screen lets you launch it instantly, without opening a browser each time.

• iPhone (Safari): Tap Share → "Add to Home Screen"
• Android (Chrome): Tap the menu (⋮) → "Add to Home Screen" or "Install app"

Once you've viewed a stop's timetable, it is cached in your browser so it can still display with poor signal. Map tiles are not included in the app's offline cache. Delay reports and Refresh require an internet connection; a service alert fetched before going offline may remain visible with a warning that it may be stale.

11. Text size and language

On the top screen you can choose from 4 text sizes (S / M / L / XL), and switch the display language to English.

12. Dark mode

If your device or browser is set to dark mode, the app automatically follows suit. There's no separate toggle inside the app.