“You can’t out-build uncertainty; you really have to out-inform it.”
For Sam Vermette, Co-founder and CEO of Transit, getting more people out of their cars does not depend on capital spending alone. It also requires a transit system riders can see, understand, and trust.
That reliability can be difficult for agencies to measure. Vehicle data and on-time statistics do not always capture the delays, missed connections, crowded buses, unsafe stops, and unexpected detours that shape a rider’s end-to-end experience.
Transit is working to fill that gap. The navigation app crowdsources real-time information from riders and shares it with more than 200 transit agency partners, helping them identify service problems as they happen rather than months later. Features such as GO and Rate-My-Ride turn everyday trips into a steady stream of civic data—and give passengers an active role in improving the systems they use.
Vermette believes that participation is itself a public good. In this conversation with CleanEnergy.ca, he explains why rider feedback should be treated as civic infrastructure, how better information builds trust, and why making transit dependable enough to choose over driving may be one of the most immediate opportunities for reducing urban emissions.
You’ve described rider participation as more than a product feature. Why do you see it as civic infrastructure?
SV: Public transit is an integral piece not just of sustainable infrastructure, but of civic infrastructure. And when rider voices aren’t part of the conversation, a gap opens up between transit agencies and the people they’re meant to serve. That’s the gap Transit app is determined to close, together with our 200+ agency partners.
When something goes sideways, like an unexpected detour or a delay, we’re the megaphone that sounds the alarm! Rider input isn’t just check-a-box feedback; it’s real-time civic data. Features like GO and Rate-My-Ride allow us to tap into riders’ everyday experiences and journeys. They can tell us what’s really happening, from what stops feel unsafe to which buses are bursting at the seams, as well as which line or route needs a bit more love. This crowdsourced approach is integral to transit agencies, which is why we hand that feedback straight over to our partners in real time, bridging both audiences and, in turn, delivering a better experience for all.
Transit collects over 500,000 pieces of feedback a month. What does that volume of feedback reveal that traditional transit data often misses?
SV: It actually reveals quite a lot! If one rider says their stop feels unsafe at night, that’s an anecdote. If 100,000 riders say that, that provides a clear indicator of where a city needs better lighting tonight, not after the next budget cycle.
Now, if you multiply that across the 1000+ cities we operate in, and across 200+ of our agency partners, patterns will start to pop up that aren’t otherwise so easy to see. Forget the annual rider surveys that paint a picture of what went wrong in the past; we’re able to focus on the now, with live signals that catch unexpected detours or a bottleneck problem as it’s happening.
The bigger picture here is that every piece of feedback is small on its own, but stack them together, and we see over 500,000 pieces of feedback shared per day that offer a real-time, block-by-block perspective on where a transit system is actually working and where it isn’t, and that in and of itself is infrastructure planning.
How does real-time rider feedback change the way agencies understand reliability, crowding, delays, or service gaps?
SV: Most agencies have historically understood their own service the way you’d understand a road trip, by reading the odometer after the fact. Agencies are used to schedule adhesion analyses and on-time stats that often aren’t delivered in real-time, and the occasional survey. Useful, but not completely dynamic and relevant, as it’s always looking back at the past rather than the “now” of what riders are experiencing in the moment.
Having large-scale rider feedback flips that. It fast-tracks the process, so that the transit agencies can see it as it’s happening, helping them pinpoint any trends or hotspots that need to be looked into. When it comes to understanding the reliability of the networks, we’re able to tap into our riders to give us a point of view on things like the timing of their transfers, the quality of their stop, whether or not a bus is on time, or if there’s a detour. A chronically late bus is no longer just a stat buried in a spreadsheet that’s delivered months after it happens; it’s hundreds of riders flagging the same issue, as it’s happening. This level of data collected through Rate-My-Ride complements the other quantitative analyses that agencies are typically used to, helping them measure the actual rider experience, and not just the vehicles they’re on.
Crowding and service gaps work the same way! Through this constant feedback fostered between riders and agency partners, these areas of concern stop being a lagging metric and start being a real conversation, one that improvements can be actioned upon almost immediately by agencies.
A lot of climate conversations focus on electrifying vehicles. Where does better transit service—and better transit information—fit into the emissions-reduction equation?
SV: Transit’s manifesto has always been a future with fewer cars. Electrification is necessary, but it’s not enough.
People don’t ride public transit simply because it’s the more sustainable option. They ride transit and feel like they don’t need to drive because they trust that the bus will show up and deliver them where they need to go, when they need to get there. This is where we come in; real-time data, spotlighting reliable ETA’s, crowding info, and service alerts, helps close the trust gap between the rider and the agency partner.
This approach to urban mobility solves traffic, reduces carbon footprints, and frees up urban space for a life beyond cars. The climate win is pretty straightforward: better access to information and feedback maximizes the value of our existing infrastructure investments by giving people confidence to take more public transit rides. It’s the lowest-hanging fruit when it comes to decarbonization.
What has Transit learned about the connection between rider trust, service reliability, and the decision to choose transit instead of driving?
SV: Reliability is the down payment on trust; riders are looking for the bus to show up when the app says it will. The moment a rider stops adding buffer time to their journeys is when you know the transit system has won them over.
We aim to give riders the confidence that their public transit agency will deliver. That often requires a direct line of contact with ridership, which is what Transit offers to agencies. Our GO feature not only acts as a step-by-step navigation tool that tells riders when to leave and also alerts them when their stop is approaching, but it also prompts riders with Rate-My-Ride questions throughout their journey. These tools aren’t implemented just to inform riders and agencies; it’s also about rehabilitating trust and fostering confidence.
What we’ve learned over the last few years is that by creating opportunities for riders to chime in through these question prompts, we’re creating a constant stream of feedback. Riders naturally want to share their experience, especially when they know that information will be funnelled to transit agencies, who will work to make improvements.
How can agencies use crowdsourced rider data without treating passengers simply as data points, but as active participants in improving the system?
SV: The best way for transit agency staff to understand that riders are more than just data points is to ride public transit themselves, using the Transit app when they ride. It’s the quickest way to understand the real, lived experiences behind those data points we’re sharing with them. When a user says their bus didn’t show up, transit agency staff will understand what that feels like, and why it’s so important to fix it.
Our GO feature automatically crowdsources real-time bus and train locations, as soon as the app detects a rider is on board, turning a commute into a collaborative experience. By anonymously broadcasting the vehicle’s exact location, riders are helping each other refine ETAs, as well as report any crowding. During their ride, they’re also asked a series of questions that focus more on safety and cleanliness of their vehicle. Agencies are able to leverage this information , to implement actionable changes, showing riders that their inputs turn into a better schedule, or a well-lit stop, instead of just disappearing into the abyss.
None of this would work without trust, which is why we don’t build user profiles for advertisers, and we also don’t sell our users’ personal information. Riders are keen to contribute their experience through our features when they know they’re not being monetized while doing so.
What does a healthy feedback loop between riders, agencies, and technology platforms look like in practice?
SV: It’s really a circle, and not a suggestion box. A rider is prompted throughout their journey, with questions about their experience, and Transit takes that information and turns it into a signal that an agency can actually action and rectify. This approach allows us to hear from as many riders as possible, while creating a distinct pathway for where rider feedback can land and be resolved at scale, rather than just in a spreadsheet or database.
The goal here is to hear the rider, address them, and improve their next journey, and that’s often what most systems skip. By doing this, we’re compounding trust amongst riders and transit agencies, encouraging riders to keep sharing through GO and Rate-My-Ride, knowing that their feedback will be addressed.
If cities want more people to leave their cars at home, what do they need to understand about the role of digital infrastructure in making transit feel dependable, visible, and worth choosing?
SV: You can’t out-build uncertainty; you really have to out-inform it. A route nobody trusts is a route nobody rides. Dependability is a feeling and not a metric, and consistency is key in building trust among riders. Visibility matters just as much, and having an app that can showcase all nearby transportation options helps riders know immediately what’s the best route for them. This level of transparency makes it easy for riders to choose public transit. Trust is also built one accurate prediction at a time, and because riders themselves are filling the gaps with real-time data, ensuring accurate ETAs fuels a collective confidence in system reliability. Lastly, we also wanted to make commuting fun for riders, which we’ve done so intentionally by gamifying the GO feature, allowing riders to have a unique alias and emoji, as well as compete on leaderboards and share “thank yous” between one another. Having this technological support is how transit agencies earn that trust from riders and can transform our civic infrastructure.