Transit - an app for planning and making bus journeys

Journey planning apps

There are many apps that assist with planning and making bus journeys. Many will also display a list of bus services departing soon from nearby bus stops. Transit, a free app with a paid option, is my current favourite for viewing nearby bus departures and for planning and travelling by bus. Transit can also help you plan and make journeys which include travel on rail and light rail services.

The Transit app

Transit has a free and a subscription version. The additional features of the subscription version probably won't be essential for most users but by subscribing regularly, or just occasionally, you will be supporting the development and maintenance of the app. Transit is probably best suited for bus routes with which you are familiar. Unfortunately, in the UK, it usually doesn't provide precise details of bus stops or bays within bus stations. You will be told only that the bus leaves from a specific street or bus station and you may have problems identifying the correct stop if a street has multiple bus stops and you will also need to discover the correct bay in a bus station.

Viewing nearby services with Transit

The app starts with a screen displaying a map of your current location at the top of the screen and below the map there is a list of nearby bus services, their destination and the time of the next departure in real time if available. In areas where there are many services it helps to pin the services you usually travel on. Pinned services will always appear near the top of the list so long as you are within a reasonable distance of their nearest bus stop. Read on for instructions about pinning. If there are many nearby bus services, the long list may be punctuated by an advertisement offering you the option to upgrade to the paid version which is called Royale. Simply continue down the list past this advertisement for the remaining nearby services. VoiceOver sometimes needs a three finger swipe up to move below the advertisement for Royale.

The screenshot shows a map centred around my location. Below the map is a search field displaying the text "where too" and below this is the list of nearby buses which can be scrolled upwards. The service name or number is in large text as is the number of minutes before departure. The destination of the bus and the name of the nearby stop are in smaller text. A pin symbol indicates that I have pinned the currently visible services and a real time icon is present when the departure time is based on real time information. The colours used are the bus company's logo colour. A VoiceOver user will hear all the information except the pinned status when they explore the list in the lower part of the screen. The simplest way for a VoiceOver user to locate the top of the list of buses is to explore the screen by sliding a finger down from slightly above the centre of the screen, past the search field which will be spoken as "search for a transit line to plan a trip" and they should land on the first bus in the list. They should then be able to hear the full list by swiping right but an occasional 3 finger vertical scroll may be necessary if the list gets stuck. If you are using the free version the list may include occasional advertisements for the paid version which is called Royale. Just continue down the list to hear the remaining available services.

The list of buses shows only one direction for each bus service. If you aren't using VoiceOver and want the service in the opposite direction drag the service to the left. VoiceOver users will usually hear the word "adjustable" spoken at the end of the information for each bus service. "Adjustable" always indicates that the item you are viewing can be changed with a vertical swipe so all you need to do to change direction of the bus is to swipe up or down with one finger. After you have used the app for a while it will remember the direction you normally use at this location and show that direction by default. 

It's definitely worth pinning services you frequently use to ensure that those services pop up near the top of the list when you are in areas with a mltitude of services, such as a bus station or a major city street. To pin a services, search for it by its name or number in the search field above ther list of services. Explore down from the top of the screen to discover the item spoken as "view route map and schedule for" your service. Double tap this item if you are using VoiceOver or just tap otherwise. A screen will appear which includes a button to pin the line. 

Screen shot of the screen that appears when a service is found by a search. The pin button, which is close to the top right of the screen is highlighted with a red circle. Non VoiceOver users should tap this button to pin the service. VoiceOver users should explore near the top right of the screen to locate the "pin this line" button and then double tap. An option to subscribe to disruption alerts for the service may be offered when the line is pinned.

The map and finding your bus stop

If you aren't already standing at your bus stop, the map can provide visual walking directions for people who can use them. Tap or double tap for VoiceOver any bus service in the list and the map will show a local section of the route. If necessary, use the "current location" button which is circled in red on the screenshot below to centre the map on your location. Pinch and pan as necessary to get a clear view of your walking route to the bus stop. It's shown as a dashed line. The blue dot indicating your position will move as you walk along the route, making it easy to stay on track if you can view the screen. If your vision is good enough to use the map and you have been using VoiceOver, I suggest you turn VoiceOver off to facilitate pinching and panning the map to give the best view of your route.

Screenshot showing a route opened from the list of nearby services. The current location button is ringed with a red circle. 

Planning and making a journey

You can plan your journey before you leave home or just set your destination before you board your bus. Either way you need to use the search field above the nearby services list. VoiceOver users will hear the search field described as "search for a transit line or destination to plan a trip". If you have set Home and Work addresses, you can also use a Home or Work button which is to the right of the search field. You can search for street addresses, locations such as Nottingham Royal Concert Hall, postcodes and more. If you are planning ahead then you will need to specify the departure or arrival date and time using the "leave now" button and a start location if you won't be starting from your current location.. 

You may be offered several options. Tap or double tap for Voiceover an option to have it in more detail. Before you start the journey use the GO button on this screen to have the app track the progress of your journey. The GO button is spoken by VoiceOver as "start GO" and is approximately half way down and close to the right edge of the screen. If you don't use the GO button before the journey starts, no problem, you can still use the button when you are on the moving bus. You'll be told how many stops there are to your destination. Even if you aren't using VoiceOver you will hear spoken announcements when you are close to your stop and when the bus is approaching your final stop. VoiceOver users may have difficulty finding the GO button by exploring the screen since it is overlaid by another area and its active area is quite small. It can also be found by swiping right from anything you can find near the top of the screen or left from anything near the bottom of the screen. As you will discover below, using the GO button also assists other Transit users since your location allows the app to provide real time information about the bus location even when it isn't otherwise available.

Screenshot of a detailed journey screen showing a large blue button with GO in white text near the right edge of the screen and close to its midpoint. 

Setting your walking and other preferences

The user options button is near top left of the main Transit screen. It opens a page with several sets of options. I'll highlight just four of these in this section which are definitely worth considering if you use Transit for journey planning.

Public Transit, which lets you select the kinds of transport you want to include in journey planning;
On the Sidewalk, which lets you set walking preferences and your preference for step-free access;
Saved Locations, where you can set Home and Work addresses
Settings and Accessibility,  where you may find some other relevant settings.

Screenshot of the main screen with the user options button, which is at top left, circled in red.

Crowd sourcing and GO

If you use the app only to discover nearby bus services on the main screen you don't need to know about crowd sourcing but if you make a journey using the GO button then you are providing anonymous crowd-sourced location data to provide the app with information about the bus you are travelling on. You will be providing the bus's location in addition to any real time information provided by the bus company and, optionally, you can offer information about your trip, such as bus overcrowding, which can help other Transit users.

Screenshot of the user options screen headed with an icon labelled UNDERGROUND RAINCLOUD. Now, let's explain that raincloud. The app assigns each user an arbitrary avatar image and nickname. This is a little touch of whimsy from the Canadian developer team. If you care about how the app represents you, use the themes and icons button in the user options screen. You will find an avatr and nickname button there.  The number below the icon is the number of other users who have benefited from my crowd sourced GO information.

The Transit app on Apple Watch

The Apple Watch version of Transit is very useful for checking nearby buses without needing to fumble for your iPhone. If you have pinned services on your iPhone you will need to pin them separately on your Apple Watch. You can do this by finding a service in the nearby list and tapping, or double tapping for VoiceOver and then scrolling down to the bottom of the page where you will find the button to pin the line. I find on my Apple Watch SE that the Transit app is often slow to realise that it is in a different location from the previous time I used the app. If you have this issue then it's easy to avoid by closing the app in the app switcher after use. Or, if you forgot, open Transit and then close it in the app switcher before opening it again to use. If you are using VoiceOver on your Apple Watch you can open the app switcher with a double click on the digital crown. Swipe right or left through the apps to find Transit and then swipe up to hear "remove" and then double tap with one finger to close the app. Close the app switcher with a single click on the digital crown. If you aren't using VoiceOver on your Apple Watch, open the app switcher by double clicking the digital crown, swipe up or down to locate the app. Slide the app to the left and tap on the X that appears. Close the app switcher with a single click of the digital crown.

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last updated 6 March 2026