Transit is a

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...

providing real-time public transit data. The app functions in over 175

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...

s around the world. Transit was designed for aggregating and mapping

real-time Real-time or real time describes various operations in computing or other processes that must guarantee response times within a specified time (deadline), usually a relatively short time. A real-time process is generally one that happens in defined ...

public transit Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

data,

crowdsourcing Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digita ...

user data to determine the true location of buses and trains. Transit was first released in 2012 for iPhone and soon after launched the Android-compatible version. It offers users schedules and alerts for multiple modes of transportation where available, including

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

and

rail Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' ( ...

. Transit was developed in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada by Sam Vermette and Guillaume Campagna. This app is meant to minimize the need for individuals to own vehicles in cities. Transit is in direct competition with other transit mapping services such as

Moovit Moovit ( he, מוביט) is an Israel-based mobility as a service provider and journey planner app. It has been owned by Intel through the Mobileye subsidiary since 2020. The company uses both crowdsourced and official public transit data to pro ...

and

Citymapper Citymapper is a public transit app and mapping service which displays transport options, usually with live timing, between any two locations in a supported city. It integrates data for all urban modes of transport, including walking, cycling a ...

, as well as general mapping services that also provide transit data such as

Google Maps Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panoramic views of streets ( Street View), real-time traffic conditions, and rou ...

Bing Maps Bing Maps (previously Live Search Maps, Windows Live Maps, Windows Live Local, and MSN Virtual Earth) is a web mapping service provided as a part of Microsoft's Bing suite of search engines and powered by the Bing Maps Platform framework. Since 20 ...

, and Apple Maps. Current Transit app executives are Chief Executive Officer, Sam Vermette and Chief Business Officer, David Block-Schachter. In 2020, Transit became the official Big Blue Bus (BBB) app for travel planning and information on arriving in real-time buses.

Features

Transit is compatible with car-sharing and ride-hailing apps such as

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. (Uber), based in San Francisco, provides mobility as a service, ride-hailing (allowing users to book a car and driver to transport them in a way similar to a taxi), food delivery (Uber Eats and Postmates), package ...

Lyft Lyft, Inc. offers mobility as a service, ride-hailing, vehicles for hire, motorized scooters, a bicycle-sharing system, rental cars, and food delivery in the United States and select cities in Canada. Lyft sets fares, which vary using a dyn ...

Via Via or VIA may refer to the following: Science and technology * MOS Technology 6522, Versatile Interface Adapter * ''Via'' (moth), a genus of moths in the family Noctuidae * Via (electronics), a through-connection * VIA Technologies, a Taiwan ...

, and Ola, along with multiple bike-share systems. In April 2018, the app expanded to include

scooter-sharing system A scooter-sharing system is a shared transport service in which electric motorized scooters (also referred to as e-scooters) are made available to use for short-term rentals. E-scooters are typically "dockless", meaning that they do not have a ...

s in four American cities. The app provides users with a color-coded system that matches colors with modes of transportation in order for users to quickly associate a color with the mode of transportation they are monitoring. In February 2019, the Transit app released an update that allows users to look up bus and train schedules for their whole city even without a data connection, or determine if a bike-sharing station has bikes available. Even when users are offline, they are able to find the nearest public transport stops and map their journey.

Supported Regions

Transit is supported in 16 countries across the globe including Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Within the United States, Transit can be used in 270 regions.

Partners

Transit supports multiple mobile ticketing platforms including

Token Transit Token may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Token, a game piece or counter, used in some games * The Tokens, a vocal music group * Tolkien Black, a recurring character on the animated television series ''South Park,'' formerly known as ...

and

Masabi Masabi ( fa, مصعبي, also Romanized as Maş‘abī, Ma‘şabī, and Moş‘abī; also known as Mosāvī and Musavi) is a village in Masabi Rural District, in the Central District of Sarayan County, South Khorasan Province, Iran I ...

. Users are only required to input their payment information into the app one time, and then able to purchase ride and bike-share passes within the app's interface. Transit has been endorsed by multiple cities' Transportation Authorities including the MBTA,

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

, MDOT, and the

Edmonton Transit System The Edmonton Transit Service (ETS) (previously known as Edmonton Transit System) is the public transit service owned and operated by the City of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada. It operates Edmonton's bus and light rail systems. In , the system had ...

Endorsers

Transit has partnered with public agencies around the world to become their official or endorsed multimodal app. Agencies that have endorsed the app include: * Boston's Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority ( MBTA) * British Columbia's

BC Transit BC Transit is a provincial crown corporation responsible for coordinating the delivery of public transportation within British Columbia, Canada, outside Greater Vancouver. BC Transit is headquartered in Victoria, British Columbia. In , the syst ...

* Columbus, Ohio's Central Ohio Transit Authority ( COTA) *

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region and is part of Canada's N ...

's Société de transport de l'Outaouais (

STO STO may refer to: Businesses and organizations Government * Science & Technology Organization, a NATO organization * ''Service du travail obligatoire'', French men & women between certain ages deported to Germany during WWII to work as slave la ...

) *

Halifax Transit Halifax Transit is a Canadian public transport service operating buses and ferries in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Founded as Metro Transit in March 1981, the agency runs two ferry routes, 66 conventional bus routes (including corridor, local, and expre ...

* Los Angeles Metro (

) * Maryland Transit Administration ( MTA) * Montreal's Société de transport de Montréal ( STM) * Santa Clara, California's Valley Transportation Authority ( VTA) * Tampa Bay's Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority ( PTSA) * Vancouver's TransLink

Investors

In 2018, Transit raised $17.5 million. The majority of investments came from auto manufacturers. The lead investor was Alliance Ventures. Others included

Jaguar Land Rover Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC is the holding company of Jaguar Land Rover Limited (also known as JLR), and is a British multinational automobile manufacturer which produces luxury vehicles and sport utility vehicles. Jaguar Land Rover is a ...

's venture capital fund, InMotion Ventures, Accel, and Real Ventures.

References

{{reflist Crowdsourcing Mobile route-planning software Software companies of Canada Companies based in Montreal IOS software WatchOS software Android (operating system) software