SEPTA SMS Transit

SEPTA SMS Transit enables users to request scheduled trip information via text message. Users subscribe to the service via text. After setting up an account, users can receive schedule information by texting the Stop ID number for a bus, trolley, or subway stop to 41411. They will receive a return text with information on the four next scheduled trips from that stop. Users can include the specific route designation in the text to receive information on a certain route if the stop serves multiple routes. In addition to using the SMS, there is also a simulator which people can use to experiment at no cost. Finally, the SMS data can be accessed from an API. The data returned by the API is currently text format, separated. The API can be accessed in the format: https://www3.septa.org/sms/var1/var2/var3/var4/var5
[var1] = stop id
[var2] = route id OR i/o for inbound/outbound
[var3] = i/o for inbound/outbound only if route id is supplied
[var4] = returns schedule times on or after specified date, format: MM/DD/YYYY. Defaults to current day.
[var5] = returns schedule times on or after specified time, format: HH:mm:ss. Defaults to current time.

Stops fall into one of three categories, here is an explanation with some sample links:

1. Stops with service provided by only one route, stop is not the first or last stop andall travel is in a single direction:
   
   [https://www3.septa.org/sms/321](https://www3.septa.org/sms/321)
   Returns the next 4 scheduled trolleys (All Route 13) at Chester Ave & 49th St.
2. Stops with service provided by multiple routes, but all travel is in one direction:
   
   https://www3.septa.org/sms/20645/
   Returns the next 4 scheduled trolleys at 22nd St. Station. Note the results shows trolleys regardless or route. To grep just a single route, for a multi-route, uni-directional stop, add another var:
   https://www3.septa.org/sms/20645/13/
   Returns only the Route 13 trolleys at 22nd St. Station
3. Stops with travel in multi-directions. This is usually end points, like the trolley loop at Juniper and they may or may not have multiple routes. For example:
   https://www3.septa.org/sms/283
   Returns the next 2 inbound and 2 outbound times for all routes https://www3.septa.org/sms/283/13/
   Returns the next 2 inbound and 2 outbound times for only Route 13 https://www3.septa.org/sms/283/o
   Returns the next 4 outbound times for all routes https://www3.septa.org/sms/283/13/o
   Returns the next 4 outbound times for only Route 13

Resources

• SMS Transit API (text) API (Details)
• SMS Transit Simulator HTML (Details)

Additional Info