Frequently Asked Questions
What is the point of this bot?
There are lots of apps out there that help with transit. Google Maps, Apple Maps, and the Transit app will help you get where you need to go. However, none of these are focused on making your commute as low-stress as possible. By integrating directly with Slack, you can get the alerts and service updates on just the routes your care about, when you need them, for your morning or evening commute.
My transit provider has an app, why would I use this?
While some transit providers have invested heavily in a mobile app with a good experience, many have not. You also have to remember to look at them! Mobility Bot uses the reliable Slack notifications you already have set up on your devices, and ensures service alerts and disruptions are sent to you before you’re waiting at the train station or bus stop.
Also, don’t ditch your normal transit app! Mobility will tell you something is amiss, and you might still want to find an alternate way home, or leave earlier or later than you were planning, and all those other apps can be very helpful in doing that.
What transit operators and agencies do you support?
We currently support the following transit providers, and we’re continuously adding support for additional agencies:
- Baltimore, MD
- MTA - Maryland Transit Administration
- Boston, MA
- MBTA - Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
- Chicago, IL
- CTA - Chicago Transit Authority
- Metra
- NICTD - Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (South Shore Line)
- Denver, CO
- RTD - Regional Transportation District
- Minneapolis–Saint Paul, MN
- Metro Transit (coming soon!)
- New York, NY
- MTA - MTA New York City Transit (Subway and Bus)
- LIRR - MTA Long Island Rail Road
- MNR - MTA Metro-North Railroad
- New Jersey
- NJ Transit Rail
- NJ Transit Bus (coming soon!)
- PATH - Port Authority Trans-Hudson
- Oakland, CA
- AC Transit - Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District
- BART - Bay Area Rapid Transit
- Philadelphia, PA
- SEPTA - Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority
- Portland, OR
- TriMet - Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon
- San Francisco, CA
- BART - Bay Area Rapid Transit
- Caltrain
- SFMTA - San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (Muni)
- SFBF - San Francisco Bay Ferry
- San Jose, CA
- Caltrain
- VTA - Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
- Toronto, ON, Canada
- GO Transit
- TTC - Toronto Transit Commission
- Washington, DC
- WMATA - Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
- MTA - Maryland Transit Administration
If you have suggestions for additional providers, contact us!
What can I configure?
Once Mobility Bot is installed in your Slack workspace, you can set up route-specific alerts for transit providers we have integrated with. For example, if you ride a bus and a train to work, you could set up subscriptions for both of these routes.
You can then set preferences on when you want to be alerted. If you work three days a week in the office, select only the days you regularly commute and you won’t be messaged on other days. Your commute hours can also be configured so you aren’t bothered when you’re not commuting.
Do you support Microsoft Teams in addition to Slack?
We are building support for Microsoft Teams now! If you want to be an early tester, please reach out to us at support@simplebitlabs.com and we’ll send you an invitation to beta test when it is available.
Where does the data come from?
🤓 answer ahead! We use GTFS and GTFS-RT data provided by transit agencies to push alerts and service updates to you within seconds of receiving them. Transit agency/operator data is updated regularly, including routes, and realtime alerts data is pulled every 30 to 60 seconds. When we receive new data, we quickly process it, clean up header and description text, extract route and other information, and send you a message if you have a matching configured subscription.