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:

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!, to remind you to hurry up if you’re going to miss your ride.
  • Your stop is __ stops away, to alert you when your destination stop is approaching.
  • Might miss the connection, in case the first part of your trip was too slow.
  • 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 or if you've missed your connection, causing GO to switch to the next departure.

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. When you arrive at your destination, GO switches off automatically.

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?

Get Notifications about a Trip Plan

  • Tap the search bar to search for a destination and plan a trip.
  • Tap the search result that best meets your needs.
  • On the trip details screen, tap GO:

    • 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 trip, so you can see your trip progress quickly at a glance. This also means fewer notifications all around. From now on, your phone will wake to alert you about actions to take, 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!

    Live Activities requires iOS 16.1 or later. Live Notifications requires Android 11. Version 5.13.0 or later of the app is required to use this feature on either platform. It also supports VoiceOver and TalkBack for low-vision users.
    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.

    The Dynamic Island feature is only available for select iPhone models, starting with iPhone 14 Pro or iPhone 14 Pro Max.

    Get Notifications About 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.
  • Tap the GO button.
  • Select your destination stop at the bottom of the screen to receive a notification when it's coming up:

    • What If I'm Already on the Bus or Train?

    When you open Transit while riding a bus or train, just select the route in question and tap the big 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 route 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 less than a kitten GIF, but more than a text message.

    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 it automatically turns off when you reach your destination.

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