Transit SMS Powered by GoBerry Marketing
Transit and public service text message alerts are a specific product offering that we provide using our proprietary software built specifically for large scale mass transit agencies. GoBerry Marketing works with transit agencies across the country, and provides Transit Alert systems for TriMet in Portland, Oregon, UTA Transit in Utah, and Metro Transit in Minnesota among others.
Use cases for SMS transit alerts
- Lightning quick bus/train arrival times without having to download a mobile app.
- Shuttle Service SMS arrival times, such as airport and hotel shuttles.
- Announcements, promotions, and safety alerts for transit.
How transit agencies have used our SMS services
The most common use case is for a rider to near instantaneously receive the next bus/train arrival times on their mobile device. This works by first establishing a “text in” number (either a short 5 digit code, or a 10 digit local number) specific to the transit agency. Secondly, by either signage or other marketing/outreach, inform riders that they can “text in” a “Stop ID” or other unique stop identifier to receive the next arrival time for that stop.
How Transit SMS Arrival Times work
Our software will receive the initial message from the rider specifying what stop they’re waiting at, and then will query either a public or private Transit API to retrieve the real-time coordinates. Lastly, the software will compile a response message containing the human readable arrival times of the next one, or two arrivals. Each message can contain a unique or rotating addendum, which can include promotions, safety alerts (most recently used to add a friendly reminder to riders of mask regulations during COVID-19), or other service alert.
How much does Transit SMS Cost?
Our team of experienced developers work with each unique transit agency to implement this program successfully for their riders. Our pricing model is flexible to fit the desired use case, and may be either flat rate, or usage based pricing. Our usage based pricing typically ranges from $0.0125/msg to $0.02/msg depending on monthly volume. With a solid framework built for high volume transit from the ground up, we try to keep onboarding costs to a minimum, although depending on the technical specifications of each Transit’s API some development hours may be required.
