TransLink has been having some early winter woes these past few days with its real-time tracking system. Uh oh. As TransLink works to fix the problem, our team at Transit wanted to help. So we’re removing the sting of missing real-time transit data for our riders, in Vancouver. Bzzzz.

🐝💥😫

Why missing real-time data stings:

Real-time transit info is super important. It gives riders a better idea of when their ride is going to show up. In Montreal (where we’re from), knowing that your bus is going to be 30 minutes late can be the difference between:

being late for work, or never going to work again because your body froze into an iceberg

Your mild Vancouver weather might prevent you from turning to ice while waiting for the bus, but y’all still gotta wait at the stop. And not knowing how long that wait will be? It just adds to the uncertainty.

Instead of letting you West Coasters suffer — deprived of your beloved real-time data — we present a solution:

Riders helping riders: with crowdsourced transit data 🙋📡

Collectively, Vancouverites open Transit millions of times every week to track their ride. When they tap GO in Transit, they get — and give — a lil somethin’ extra.

Go ahead, hit that big juicy GO button. Your fellow TransLink riders will thank you.

GO is your personal public transport companion, guiding you from your front door all the way to your destination. It uses your phone’s GPS and motion activity to detect whether you’re walking, waiting at the stop, or on the bus.

When you use GO, you get notifications telling you when to leave, and reminders about when your stop is coming up. You’ll also be (anonymously) sharing the real-time location of your vehicle, as you ride, with other Transit users. It’s what gives them super-accurate vehicle tracking information.

Real-time, crowdsourced bus locations are shown on the map in our app, indicated by a smiley face:

Real-time tracking so accurate it’ll put a 😁 on your face.

Moreover, in the spirit of helping other TransLink riders, we want you to know just how many people you’re helping by pressing GO.

Green dots on the map will indicate other anonymized Transit riders. And a little green oval (at the top of the screen) tallies up how many other people you’re helping while you ride.

We’ll even tally the amount of riders you help each month, and give you your “ride rank”. Call it competitive benevolence. 😉

There are SO MANY people in Vancouver using Transit. Together, we can help fill the gaps while TransLink fixes your (official) real-time data.

It’s as simple as pressing GO.