Stepping off a plane in a city you don’t know is one of those small moments that separates good trips from frustrating ones. Google Maps tells you a bus exists; what it doesn’t tell you, reliably, is whether the bus is actually coming, where exactly the stop is, and which of three nearly identical routes is heading your way.
Transit was built to answer those questions before you’ve finished pulling your bag off the carousel — a mobile app that combines live arrival times, real-time vehicle tracking, and trip planning across more than 1,000 metropolitan areas worldwide.
There are free and paid tiers to consider, and the app is available for iOS and Android. Below: how it works, what the paid Royale subscription actually unlocks, the surprising number of ways to get Royale for free, and how it stacks up against its main rival, Citymapper.
Introducing Transit – Live Public Transportation Schedules, Real-Time Alerts
Transit has been available since 2012, launched by Sam Vermette and Guillaume Campagna out of Montreal. Though it started in Quebec, Transit now offers journey planning in 1,130 metropolitan areas across 34 countries, with 180+ partner transit agencies integrated directly into the platform — making it one of the most widely used public transportation navigation apps in the world.
The pitch from the founders has remained refreshingly consistent over the years: unlike most transport apps, Transit doesn’t sell personal data, doesn’t run ads, and doesn’t compete with public transit by pushing rideshare alternatives. The company is funded by its premium tier (Royale) and by partner transit agencies that pay to give their riders free access. That matters for users in a way most app reviews skip: the incentives stay aligned with the rider rather than an advertiser.
How Does Transit Work & How to Plan Your Journey
Open the app, share your location, and Transit shows you every bus, train, metro, and tram passing nearby — with live ETAs, planned routes, and where they’re heading. You can also use it to plan walks, bike rides, or hail an Uber.
If you tap on a specific route, you’ll see a visual of the actual vehicle moving toward your stop in real time. This is the feature that separates Transit from generic mapping apps: it’s not working off a static timetable, it’s tracking the actual bus. If your driver is running 12 minutes late, you’ll see that on the map rather than standing in the rain wondering if you missed it.
Once you’ve picked an option, you can set notifications or pin it to your homepage to track the route as you walk to the stop. Setting your home and work locations from day one makes subsequent trips much faster — both addresses will appear on the map every time you open the app.
If you regularly compare transit options against driving routes, our roundup of the best Google Maps alternatives covers how Waze, HERE WeGo, and others stack up — pair them with Transit and you’ve got most ground-transport scenarios covered.
Is Transit Free to Use? Pricing & Royale Explained
Transit’s core features are free forever. You get live arrivals, A-to-B trip planning, mobile ticketing where supported, and the ability to pin your favorite lines — at no cost, with no ads, with no data harvesting. This is the most important fact about the app and the part most reviews bury.
Transit Royale is the optional premium subscription. Per the App Store (verified May 2026), it costs:
- $4.99 per month
- $24.99 per year
You get a free 7-day trial and can cancel any time before the first payment.
Royale unlocks:
- All transit lines — Future departure times and live tracking for any line, even ones outside your immediate area
- More trips — A wider set of results when you use the trip planner
- Custom themes and icons — Change the app’s color scheme, app icon, and 20+ location icons
- GO celebrity status — A custom avatar and nickname for Transit’s crowdsourcing leaderboards (more fun than it sounds if you’re a regular rider)
For everyone else, the free version remains genuinely useful — Royale is more about depth than essentials.
Transit App Bonuses & Promotional Discounts
This is the most underreported part of the Transit story, and the most useful one for travelers. There are several legitimate ways to get Royale for free.
- Partner transit agency free upgrade — Transit partners with local transit authorities in dozens of US cities, and many of those agencies pay Transit to give every rider in their system free Royale. Confirmed partner agencies offering this perk include RTD in Denver, Metro Transit in St. Louis, Big Blue Bus in Santa Monica, Greater Dayton RTA, RTS in Rochester, PSTA in Pinellas County (Florida), OCTA in Orange County, CU Boulder’s Buff Bus, and agencies in Orlando, Tallahassee, and Buffalo. Open Transit in any of these cities and the upgrade is automatic.
- Low-income free subscription — If you can’t afford the $24.99/year, Transit offers a “no questions asked” free subscription. Vermette confirmed this publicly when Royale launched and the policy remains in place. You request it inside the app — no proof of income required, despite what some older reviews suggest.
- University partnerships — Some universities (CU Boulder, for example) bundle Royale into student transit passes, so check with your campus transportation office before paying.
- Mobile ticketing in select cities — Where Transit partners with the local agency, you can buy bus and train fares directly in the app, often at the same price as buying at the station, with the convenience of one less app on your phone.
Insider tip: Before you pay for Royale, search the list of Transit’s partner agencies for the city you live in or travel to most often. If your local agency is on it, you’re already entitled to a free upgrade — you just have to open the app in the relevant city for Transit to detect you as a regular rider.
Transit App Reviews & Ratings
Transit scores highly on both major app stores:
- Apple App Store: 4.6 / 5 (937,000+ ratings)
- Google Play: 4.4 / 5 (365,000+ reviews)
It has also received the Editors’ Choice award on the App Store and consistently ranks among the top transportation apps in both stores. Reviewers across both platforms agree that it’s intuitive, easy to use, and especially useful when you’re in a new city for the first time.
Worth flagging honestly: some long-time users pushed back when Royale launched in 2021, with vocal complaints in the App Store that previously free features had been moved behind the paywall. Transit responded directly to those reviews and the core free experience remains genuinely usable — but if you’re a power user, expect to either subscribe or live with restricted access to lines outside your immediate area.
One representative Google Play review from Amanda Glenn sums up the consensus: “I have been using the Transit app since 2022, and I have used it in TN, FL, and CA, and it has saved my life. The Google Maps bus schedules are very confusing, so the Transit app is a simple alternative.”
The Alternative: Citymapper for Power Users
Citymapper is Transit’s closest rival, and the choice comes down to feature breadth versus simplicity.
Choose Transit for a clean, fast app that nails the basics — live arrivals, real-time vehicle tracking, and reliable trip planning — across more cities than almost any competitor, with strong coverage of mid-sized US metros that Citymapper sometimes misses.
Choose Citymapper if you want more options inside the app: alternative routing logic (“walk less,” “turbo,” “rain-safe”), carshares, e-bike and e-scooter rentals integrated directly into trip suggestions, and AI-powered route recommendations based on your travel patterns. Citymapper’s free tier is more feature-rich than Transit’s free tier, which is a real consideration if you’re price-sensitive.
For most travelers, Transit is the better all-rounder — it just works, in more cities, with a more transparent business model. Citymapper rewards users who live in a handful of well-covered megacities (London, NYC, Paris, Berlin) and want every possible option in one app. For more apps worth keeping on your phone while traveling, browse our best travel apps roundup.
