New Community Transit Bus Alerts Report Real-time Service Impacts

Upgraded system gives riders more information on bus delays during all hours of service

Snohomish County, Wash. – Community Transit today launched a new bus alert system that provides riders with information on delays and other service impacts in real time, during all hours of service. The system gives riders more information to help them ride the bus confidently. 

The new real-time alerts report trip delays of 10 minutes or more, as well as canceled trips, reroutes that miss certain bus stops, and other issues that are impacting buses on the road. Alerts are simultaneously posted on the agency’s website, Twitter page, and sent to subscribers via email or SMS text, as well as provided to third-party apps such as Google Maps or OneBusAway. 

Real-time alerts look a bit different than alerts in the past. They start with the route number and time the bus leaves the first stop so riders can easily tell if it is their trip. The alerts then identify the direction of the trip by destination, and the reason for the delay or reroute. These alerts are produced any time a bus is impacted, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

In addition to real-time alerts, Community Transit will continue to publish alerts about future impacts due to planned construction, parades or holidays. On the agency’s Rider Alerts webpage, www.communitytransit.org/Alerts, the two alert types are called Real-Time Alerts and Rider Information.

How to get alerts
Bus riders can get alerts three different ways:

Email/text – Sign up for alerts to be sent by email or SMS text. Visit www.communitytransit.org/Subscribe to select the routes you ride most frequently. Whenever an alert affecting that route is sent, you will get a notification. Because more alerts are being sent out in this new system, choose your route preferences carefully. If you already subscribe, you may want to adjust your preferences to avoid getting too many alerts.

Twitter – Follow Community Transit’s new service alert Twitter handle, @MyCommTransBus. All alerts for all routes are sent to this Twitter feed. If you see an alert announcing service delays on your route, scroll up the feed to see if that delay has ended. The old Twitter handle, @MyCommTrans, will still be used for non-service announcements and customer comments.

Website – Visit www.communitytransit.org/Alerts to view all active alerts. If a bus trip is delayed more than 10 minutes or canceled, an alert will be generated. That alert will be removed once that trip has ended. A link to rider information alerts provides all construction- or holiday-related impacts to service that are planned in advance.

Questions about bus service may still be answered by calling (425) 353-7433 or emailing riders@commtrans.org.

Real-time alerts are reported for all Community Transit bus routes and the six Sound Transit bus routes operated by Community Transit – ST Routes 510, 511, 512, 513, 532 and 535.

Community Transit is responsible for providing bus and paratransit service, vanpool and alternative commute options in Snohomish County. The agency is building a network of Swift bus rapid transit lines with Swift Blue Line along Highway 99, the Swift Green Line between Canyon Park/Bothell and Boeing/Paine Field, and the new Swift Orange Line coming to Mill Creek and Lynnwood in 2024.