Get Notifications about your Trip with GO
Transit’s GO feature is your personal public transport companion. It will guide you from your front door, through one or multiple transit connections, all the way to your destination. GO uses your phone's GPS and motion activity to detect whether you're walking, waiting at the stop, or on the bus.
Here's what this article covers:
- How does GO work?
- Live Activity, Live Notifications, and Dynamic Island
- Get Notifications Using GO
- What If I'm Already on the Bus or Train?
- How Much Battery and Data Does GO Use?
- What About My Privacy?
For more information about customizing GO for your personal needs, check out Customize GO.
How does GO work?
GO helps you navigate the transport system by sending the following notifications:
- Leave now!, when it’s time to leave to catch the bus.
- Hurry up!, if you might miss your ride.
- Your stop is __ stops away, as you get closer to your destination stop.
- Might miss the connection, if one part of your trip gets too delayed.
- Time to get off!, when it's time to switch lines or when you're at your destination.
GO also lets you know if your vehicle goes on a detour, and will automatically switch to the next departure if you've missed your connection.
Once launched, GO runs in the background and works with voice notifications, so you can get lost in your music or take a nap without worrying about missing your stop. GO then ends automatically when you've reached your destination.
When you ride with GO, you provide other riders on your line with more accurate real-time tracking information. The more you use GO, the more people you help!
More info: What is GO crowdsourcing?
Live Activity, Live Notifications, and Dynamic Island
Don’t wanna fiddle with your phone to check up on your trip? Transit’s Live Activities feature is for you. (On Android, we call it Live Notifications.)
When you start GO, the lock screen widget will show your entire trip at a glance so you can easily check on its progress. Instead of sending multiple notifications throughout your trip, your phone will wake only to alert you when it’s time to take actions, like "Leave now" or "Get off in 2 stops".
Once your trip is over, the widget dismisses itself and you can rate your ride the next time you open the app! 
iOS only: Dynamic Island
With the Dynamic Island, you can always have access to your GO trip. The Dynamic Island will get larger if you need to hurry up to catch your connection as a way to draw your attention. Tapping a Dynamic Island notification will launch the app to display your trip in its entirety. 
Get Notifications Using GO
From a Trip Plan
- Tap the search bar then type your destination to plan a trip.
- Tap the search result that best meets your needs.
- On the trip details screen, tap GO.
From Route Details
- Already at or close to your stop? Select the line you’ll be taking from the list on the main screen, or search for the line using the search bar and select your stop from the according direction’s list.
- Tap GO.
- You can then select your destination stop at the bottom of the screen to receive a notification when it's time to get off.
For a Specific Departure
- Select a line in the list of the main screen.
- If you want to catch a later bus, tap "More departures" and select the departure that you want.
- The route details screen will update to show information about the selected trip. You can then tap the GO button.
- Then select your destination stop at the bottom of the screen to receive a notification when it's time to get off.
Note: you can't use GO with a multimodal trip.
What If I'm Already on the Bus or Train?
When you open Transit while riding a bus or train, just select the line in question from the main screen and tap the GO button. Wait a few moments and Transit will detect that you're on board.
It doesn't matter if the departure listed isn't the one you're on. Because GO detects whether you're on a vehicle or walking, once you've selected a line and Transit has detected that you’re on board, it dismisses all other scheduled (or real-time) departure times. GO will adjust to show information about your current trip.
How Much Battery and Data Does GO Use?
While GO uses some battery, we’ve managed to keep it down to ~5% for an average 20-minute trip and that assumes you’re glued to your phone the entire ride. The same typical GO trip will take less than 100 kb of data. That’s more than a text message, but less than a kitten GIF.
What About My Privacy?
Your exact position is never shared with other riders. The position of the vehicle is only shared while GO is active and you’re on board. All data you generate using GO is anonymous, and GO automatically turns off when you reach your destination.