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 smartphone, phone, tablet computer, tablet, or smartwatch, watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop appli ...

providing real-time public transit data. The app functions in over 871

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...

s across 25 countries around the world.

Description

Transit was designed for aggregating and mapping real-time

public transit Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of wh ...

data as well as

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 digit ...

user data to determine the true location of buses and trains. Transit was first released in 2012 for

iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...

and soon after launched the Android-compatible version. Transit offers users schedules and alerts for multiple modes of transportation where available, including bus and rail. Transit was developed in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada by Sam Vermette and Guillaume Campagna with the goal of minimizing the need for individuals to own vehicles in cities. Transit is in direct competition with other transit mapping services such as Moovit and Citymapper, 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 panorama, interactive panoramic views of streets (Google Street View, Street View ...

, Bing Maps, and

Apple Maps Apple Maps is a web mapping service developed by Apple Inc. As the default map system of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, visionOS, and watchOS, it provides directions and estimated times of arrival for driving, walking, cycling, and public trans ...

. Current Transit app executives are Chief Executive Officer Sam Vermette and Chief Business Officer David Block-Schachter. 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's venture capital fund, InMotion Ventures, Accel, and Real Ventures.

Features

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

Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational transportation company that provides Ridesharing company, ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, a ...

Lyft Lyft, Inc. is an American company offering ride-hailing services, motorized scooters, and bicycle-sharing systems in the United States and Canada. Lyft sets fares, which vary using a dynamic pricing model based on local supply and demand a ...

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

scooter-sharing system A scooter-sharing system or kicksharing system is a shared transport service in which Motorized scooter, electric motorized scooters (also referred to as e-scooters) are made available to use for short-term rentals. E-scooters are typically "doc ...

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 allowed 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 25 countries across the globe including Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, New Zealand, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Transit is available in 871 regions in total, and within the United States, it can be used in 316 regions.

Partners

Transit supports multiple mobile ticketing platforms including Token Transit and Masabi. 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.

Endorsers

Transit has partnered with some public agencies in Canada and the United States to become their official or endorsed multimodal app. Agencies that have endorsed the app include: In Canada: *

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

* Société de transport de l'Outaouais *

OC Transpo OC Transpo is the primary Transit district, public transport agency for the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, operating bus rapid transit, light rail, conventional transit bus, bus routes, and door-to-door paratransit in the nation's capital regi ...

* Halifax Transit *

Société de transport de Montréal The Société de transport de Montréal (, STM; ) is a public transport agency that operates transit bus and rapid transit services in the urban agglomeration of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Established in 1861 as the "Montreal City Passenger Railwa ...

* TransLink * Calgary Transit In the United States: *

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...

* Central Ohio Transit Authority * Capital Area Transportation Authority * Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation * Green Mountain Transit (Vermont) * Los Angeles Metro ( Metro) *

Maryland Transit Administration The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) is a state-operated mass transit administration in Maryland, and is part of the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT). The MTA operates a comprehensive transit system throughout the Washington� ...

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, more commonly known simply as the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), is a Special district (United States), special district responsible for public transit services, Congestion management agen ...

* Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority *

Pittsburgh Regional Transit Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) is the public agency responsible for most public transportation services in the Greater Pittsburgh region in Pennsylvania. It is the second-largest public transit agency in Pennsylvania and the 20th-largest in ...

* Santa Monica Big Blue Bus *

Utah Transit Authority The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) is a special service district responsible for providing public transportation throughout the Wasatch Front of Utah, in the United States, which includes the metropolitan areas of Ogden, Utah, Ogden, Park City, U ...

* Golden Gate Transit * Pioneer Valley Transit Authority * ABQ Ride * Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky

References

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