You are waiting at the bus stop, on your way to a meeting, a doctor’s appointment, school or work. Will the next bus have enough capacity for social distancing? How full will it be? With the new real-time feature in the Transit app, the answer is now instantly at your fingertips!

VTA’s automated vehicle passenger count system can now interpret and send real-time capacity data to the Transit app so that waiting passengers can see if their bus has enough room to stop and allow more passengers on board.

With the current six-foot distancing public health mandate, VTA has had to operate in “drop-off only” mode for parts of trips, especially along the more popular routes. VTA has been using this information to help address passenger pass-ups by deploying extra buses to stops that are most affected when resources are available.

Passengers now have the same information on the Transit app so they can plan their own trips more efficiently by knowing if the next bus will have enough room on board to stop.

On the Transit app, a “people” icon now appears with the approaching bus icon and, when touched on the screen, a text balloon pops up to indicate the level of crowding or if the bus is full.

This data is only available for buses now, but trains are currently operating with ample capacity.

VTA is among the first transit agencies in the country to use this cutting-edge technology. Passenger feedback is encouraged to help us improve this service. Contact VTA Customer Service at (408) 321-2300, or Customer.service@vta.org, or tweet @VTAservice to help us perfect this innovative tool.