Canadian mobility app Transit is to start charging users for access to full schedules and maps for transit lines beyond 200m after a grace period.
The new Transit Royale service will also provide subscribers with extra features and customisation options, including special app themes and icons, as well as a custom avatar and nickname that appear on the leaderboard for Go, Transit’s crowdsourcing feature.
An annual subscription to Royale costs $24.99 per year while those who want to pay monthly are charged $4.99. Riders who are unable to afford Royale can request a free subscription in the app.
The company says partner transit agencies can subscribe and gift Royale to all their riders, either as a standalone option, or bundled with additional services for the agency such as mobile ticketing upgrades or rider surveys.
The app's core features such as next departures, trip planning, mobile ticketing and multimodal integrations will stay free for everyone.
Transit Royale is being rolled out now in cities where Transit does not have a partnership with a local transit agency, such as New York, Washington and Atlanta.
In 2022, it will launch on services in partner cities, including RTD (Denver), Metro Transit (St. Louis) and Big Blue Bus (Santa Monica).
Transit CEO Sam Vermette, says the company is launching “a model that’s supported by both users and partner transit agencies. It means we can keep building an app that stays true to riders over the long term”.
Transit riders who are unable to afford Royale can request a free subscription in the app (© Piotr Swat | Dreamstime.com)
