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. The Google Transit Departures widget used to be great for displaying nearby upcoming buses but it hasn't been re-written to work with iOS 18 and won't work unless you are running an old iOS version. Transit, a free app with a paid option, is my current favourite for viewing nearby bus departures, for planning and riding buses. Moovit, which is also a free app with a paid option, has similar facilities but on some of its screens, including journey planning, it doesn't show stops with useful labels such as  "Derby Road, Stand DA" but instead displays "Derby Road, Station ID leiagamp" which is a code that isn't designed for human use and isn't displayed prominently on UK bus stands. This Stand ID isn't helpful in locating a bus stop on a road that has multiple bus stands. On the other hand, it's relatively easy to locate a bus stop by the stand name given consistently by Transit which  is displayed prominently at the stop on a road or a bay in a bus station. You may be able to see the large display or, if not, then apps like SeeingAI could help or you could enlist the help of a remote human volunteer with Be My Eyes. The two major Maps apps, Google Maps and Apple's Maps both support journey planning and information throughout the trip. I previously mainly used Google Maps for bus journeys but I now find Transit simpler and easier to use for most journeys.

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.

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. 

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 bottom half 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 "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.

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 and show that direction by default. 

Services can be pinned and unpinned in two ways. If the service is showing on the current list of services, open its service details screen with a tap or double tap if you are using VoiceOver. VoiceOver's focus usually lands on the button to pin the line. If VoiceOver doesn't land on the button, locate the close button near top right of the screen and swipe right a couple of times to locate the "pin this line" button. When you pin a line you may be offered an option to be notified of service disruptions for this bus service. If the service isn't showing in the list of nearby services, search for it in the search field above the list of services. VoiceOver focus probably won't land on the "pin this line" button so locate the close button and swipe right a couple of times to locate the button.

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 wil show a local section of the route. If necessary, use the "locate me" 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.

If your vision doesn't allow you to use the map all is not lost. You can get turn by turn directions to the bus stop using Google Maps for walking directions. If the stop has a stand name then search for something like "Derby Road Stand DA". If the bus stop simply has a name then search for something like "Wards End bus stop".

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 uses 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. When you are about to start the journey use the GO button to have the app track the progress of your journey. You'll be told how many stops there are to your destination and a notification will update throughout your journey advising you of the remaining stops. You will hear spoken announcements when you are close to your stop and when the bus is approaching your final stop.

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 2 of these in this section. If you intend to use Transit for journey planning then it will help to explore the settings which determine your walking and accessibility settings. All settings can be found using the user preferences button near top left of the main screen. The user preferences screen has several sections. The two that you need in order to determine walking and accessibility preferences are "On the sidewalk" and "settings and accessibility". I hope you will find these self explanatory.

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 pproviding 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.

Now, let's explain the egg. The app assigns each users an arbitrary avatar image and nickname. I got an egg emoji as my icon and EGG DECOY as my nickname. My wife got the constellation emoji and CONSTELLATION APOCALYPSE! 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 preferences screen. You will find an avatr and nickname button there. 

If you use the GO button to guide you through your ride you may prefer not to be asked about the ride. I think that Rate-My-Ride is turned on by default. It can be tuyrned off in Settings and accessibility.

If you want to know more about GO and crowd sourcing, open the User options screen and use the numbered button below your nickname. The number, by the way, is the number of others riders who have benefited from your GO information. If you tap or double tap for VoiceOver the numbwews button you willl be taken to a web page fully describing GO. 

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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