SimplifyTransit 101: How to get the most out of your KT rider alerts subscription
Kitsap Transit has switched to a new rider alert platform called SimplifyTransit! We’re excited to start using this tool, which will offer our customers a more personalized rider alert experience.
As we launch SimplifyTransit, our small marketing team will continue to send alerts manually for certain service impacts, including ferry cancelations and significant delays, extended bus detours and cancelations, service changes, and severe weather. In the coming weeks, we plan to turn on automated alerts for trip cancelations, closed stops and delays. This switch from manual to automated alerts will depend on some new technology being configured and tested. Thanks for your patience during this transition!
If you’re one of the 2,800 or so Kitsap Transit customers who have already signed up to receive alerts for your bus or ferry route, welcome! You can check out our new alerts page here. If you haven’t subscribed to alerts yet, now is a great time! Visit kitsaptransit.com/subscribe to sign up and customize your alert preferences.
SimplifyTransit has some cool features that are different from our previous system. Here are some tips and tricks to help you get the most out of your subscription:
1. Select your stops!
Stops are one of SimplifyTransit's key features. Picking the specific stops you use will ensure you get only the alerts that matter to you. If you've already signed up for a route, take some time to go through and select the bus stops that you use. Don't forget to pick the stop in each direction!
As an example: Several routes are currently on detour due to construction on the Manette Bridge roundabout. If you regularly board at either the northbound or southbound bus stops on Washington Avenue north of 6th Street, you’d want to select those stops to get notified when they’re closed due to a detour.
2. Set up multiple subscriptions
Only commute to work on certain days? Create separate subscriptions that cover different travel patterns, stops, or days of the week! You can individually pause these subscriptions with a simple toggle switch if you don’t want to receive alerts for a certain period, such as while you’re on vacation.
3. Link your phone number and email address
Get the same alerts sent to your phone and email! From the Manage Subscriptions page, click the Menu button, and then click Settings. Select how you want to be notified, enter your phone number or email address, and hit save.
If you want to receive alerts on multiple devices (such as a personal phone and work phone), you will have to create a second subscriber account by logging out, entering the phone number or email address for which you would like to receive alerts, and following the prompts.
4. Fast ferry riders: Select both directions when signing up for ferry alerts
Each direction of our fast ferry routes is listed separately in our Google Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) feed. To make sure you get alerts for the sailings you ride, select both the eastbound and westbound routes when signing up. They'll look like this:
5. ACCESS and Dial-a-Ride users: Select your service under “Other Topics” menu
Our ACCESS service and several Dial-a-Ride services aren't found under the normal Route dropdown when signing up for alerts. The lists for these services are under the "Other Topics" section (see below).
6. Bonus tip!
Thanks for sticking with us! Here's a bonus tip: Sign up for our Headways newsletter for more content like this! You can find it under the "Other Topics" menu, alongside our Dial-a-Ride lists, and information about Kitsap Transit public meetings and projects.
Need assistance with setting up your alerts? Contact our Customer Service team at (360) 373-2877 or (800) 501-RIDE.