Bustro Support

Solution: Enable location permissions by going to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Bustro and select "While Using App".

Additional checks:

• Ensure your search radius isn't too small (Menu > Settings > Bus Stops > Search Radius)
• Check if you're in an area with bus stops (Bustro covers Singapore only)
• If your location was found while indoors, step outside or wait a moment for a fresh GPS fix

Note: your location is processed on your device to show nearby stops and walking distances. It is never sent to our servers.

Customise your search area:

1. Open the menu and go to Settings > Bus Stops
2. Under "Nearby Stops", pick a Search Radius from 100 m to 1,000 m (default 300 m)
3. Changes apply immediately to the nearby list and the map

Tip: The same panel also has favourite-stop options: "Show in Home Sheet" and "Auto-select Nearby Favourite", which picks whichever favourite stop is closest to you as you move.

Yes. Long-press the search button on the home screen and choose Search by scanning, or open the scanner from inside Search. Point your camera at the bus stop pole, and Bustro reads either the QR code or the printed 5-digit stop number and opens that stop.

• Only what's inside the on-screen frame is read, so fare tables and nearby signs are ignored
• If the scanned stop is more than 2 km away, Bustro asks before opening it, usually a sign you've scanned a poster rather than a pole
• If a code doesn't match any stop, you can scan again or switch to searching manually

The camera is used only while the scanner is open. Nothing is photographed, saved, or sent anywhere. Recognition happens entirely on your device. If you declined camera access, enable it in Settings > Privacy & Security > Camera > Bustro.

Scanning isn't offered on devices that don't support it.

Yes. Type any 6-digit Singapore postal code into the search bar to see the bus stops nearest that address, sorted by distance.

If the code isn't recognised, or there's nothing within about 1 km, Bustro tells you clearly instead of showing an empty list.

Yes. Search keeps a short local history of the stops and services you've recently selected, including from a postal code search, so they're one tap away the next time you open search.

• Up to 10 recent selections, most recent first
• Your top 5 favourite stops are shown alongside your history
• Swipe a history entry to remove it, or use "Clear All" to reset your history

Search history is stored only on your device and is not synced via iCloud.

Answer: Yes! Arrival data comes directly from Singapore's Land Transport Authority (LTA) DataMall in real time. Timing may vary slightly due to traffic conditions, but we show the most current information available.

Data includes:

• Vehicle type indicators (single deck, double deck or bendy buses)
• Wheelchair accessibility status
• Passenger load levels
• Precise arrival predictions ("Arriving", "2 min", etc.)

Refresh rate: Choose how often live arrivals refresh, from 15 seconds to 2 minutes (default 30 seconds), in Menu > Settings > Bus Arrivals > Refresh Interval.

Each arriving bus shows a crowding indicator:

• Seats Available: plenty of seating available
• Standing Room Available: seats are limited, standing room is comfortable
• Limited Standing: the bus is crowded with limited standing room
• Not Reported: the bus didn't report its crowding level, so no data is available

Arrival cards also show the vehicle type (single deck, or double deck / bendy bus) and whether the bus is wheelchair accessible.

Alight Reminder watches your ride and alerts you before you reach your stop, so you can relax, read, or doze off without missing it.

How to set one:

1. Open your bus service's route page, or long-press an arrival card
2. Tap "Remind to Alight"
3. In the Review Trip sheet, choose the stop where you want to get off
4. Optionally turn on "Save this trip" to add it to My Journeys
5. Tap "Set Reminder"

What you get:

• A live countdown on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island, so there is no need to unlock your phone
• Two-stage alerts: an early "prepare to alight" heads-up, then a "time to alight!" alert as your stop approaches, delivered even when the phone is locked
• Swipeable status pages in the app showing upcoming arrivals while you wait, then live route progress once you're on board

Alight Reminder works reliably on loop routes too, where the bus travels the same road in both directions.

For the full experience, Alight Reminder asks for two permissions:

• Notifications: to deliver the "prepare to alight" and "time to alight" alerts
• Location ("Always"): so Bustro can keep following the ride and wake your phone as your stop approaches, even when the app is in the background or the phone is locked

Privacy notes:

• Background location runs only while a reminder is active and stops as soon as the ride ends
• Your location is processed entirely on your device. It is never sent to our servers

If you prefer not to grant "Always" access, you can still use Alight Reminder. Just keep Bustro open during your trip, as the reminder stops if you switch apps or lock your phone without background permission.

Track Arrival starts a Live Activity that counts down to your bus arriving at your stop.

How to start:

1. Long-press any arrival card (on the home list or a stop's details), or use the service row on a stop's details or route page
2. Tap "Track Arrival"
3. Review the trip in the confirmation sheet and tap "Start Tracking"

What you get:

• A live countdown on the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island, including passenger load and whether the bus is GPS-tracked
• Approach alerts: one when the bus is about 5 minutes away, and another as it's about to arrive
• Tracking ends automatically after your bus arrives

To stop early: tap the tracking pill in the app and choose "Stop Tracking". You can track one arrival at a time. Starting a new tracker replaces the current one, and setting an Alight Reminder for a different trip will also end an active tracker.

My Journeys saves the bus trips you take often so you can re-activate them in one tap.

• Save a journey: turn on "Save this trip" while setting an Alight Reminder
• Re-activate: open Menu > My Journeys and tap a saved journey, and the alight reminder is armed again for that trip
• Rename: swipe left on a journey and tap the pencil to give it a name you recognise (e.g. "Home → Office")
• Delete: swipe left and tap remove
• End an active journey: the journey that's currently running shows an "End journey" action, which stops its alight reminder

Saved journeys sync across your devices via iCloud, together with your favourites.

The route page was redesigned in 3.0.0 for faster scanning:

• Ride-time estimates: see the estimated time to each stop and to your destination
• Collapsible earlier stops: stops you've already passed fold away so you jump straight to what's ahead
• Fresh header and stop cells with live arrival info
• Set an Alight Reminder or start Track Arrival directly from the route page

To add:

1. Tap on any bus stop to open its details
2. Tap the heart icon (♡) in the toolbar
3. Personalise it with a custom name, icon, and colour

To manage: open Menu > Favourite Stops, where you can:

• Reorder your favourites with the reorder button
• Edit a favourite's name, icon, or colour (swipe left > Edit)
• Remove favourites you no longer need (swipe left > Remove)

Your custom colours and icons follow the stop everywhere: on the map, in the nearby-favourite card, and on the Home Screen widget.

Automatic sync: your favourite stops (including custom names, colours, and icons), pinned services, and saved journeys sync across all your Apple devices through your private iCloud.

Setup:

1. Sign in to iCloud on all your devices
2. Everything syncs automatically in the background
3. Changes appear within minutes on other devices

Troubleshooting sync issues:

• Check iCloud settings in iOS Settings > [Your Name] > iCloud
• Ensure you have internet connectivity
• Try toggling airplane mode on/off to refresh sync

The Favourite Stop widget shows live arrivals for a favourite stop right on your Home Screen or Lock Screen, in small and medium sizes.

Setup:

1. Long-press your Home Screen and add the Bustro widget
2. Long-press the widget > Edit Widget to choose a favourite stop, or turn on "Use Nearest Stop" to always show the favourite closest to you

Features:

• Live arrival times with passenger load, refreshed on a timeline
• A refresh button to fetch the latest arrivals on demand
• Arrows to cycle between favourites (when a specific stop is selected)
• "Only Pinned Services" in Edit Widget shows just the services you've pinned at that stop, instead of pinned-first-then-everything-else
• Tap the widget to jump straight to that stop, or a specific service, in the app

While viewing a bus stop's details, Bustro can draw the live position of approaching buses on the map for the services you've pinned.

1. Open a bus stop's details
2. Pin the services you care about ("Pin Service")
3. Pinned services show their buses on the map. Use each service's "Show on Map" toggle to control which ones are drawn

Live tracking for pinned arrivals starts automatically when you open a stop's details. You can turn this off with Menu > Settings > Bus Arrivals > Auto-Track Bus Arrivals.

Why pinned services only? Streaming every service at a busy interchange would clutter the map, so pinning keeps it focused on the routes you actually take.

Feature: Bustro shows live Singapore weather sourced from the Singapore Government's data.gov.sg APIs, so you can decide when to leave and what to bring.

Information displayed:

• 2-hour forecast for all 47 Singapore forecast areas
• Rainfall readings from stations across the island
• Lightning alerts: seek shelter if you're outdoors
• Air quality (PSI) and temperature readings

Switch between "Near Me" and "Island Wide" tabs in the weather sheet, and see weather zones directly on the map.

Contains information from the Singapore Government's data.gov.sg APIs, made available under the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0.

The Commute Feed brings three kinds of transit updates into one place:

• LTA Alerts: automated service alerts from LTA (disruptions, advisories)
• Admin: official advisories from the Bustro team
• User: short transit updates posted by fellow commuters

Filtering: use the filter bar to slice the feed by All, Last 2 hours, Today, Admin, User, or LTA Alerts, and your selection is remembered between sessions.

Posting: you can share short, transit-related updates yourself. Posts are reviewed by the Bustro team before they appear, must relate to Singapore public transport, require you to be at least 13 years old, and are automatically deleted after 7 days.

Reactions: react to any post with Like, Seen, Thanks, Useful, or Funny. Reactions you left before updating are preserved and now appear as Thanks.

Traffic alerts: when an LTA alert mentions a traffic incident, the alert carries a button that opens the Traffic Dashboard already filtered to that kind of incident.

Access: Tap the traffic light button on the main map screen, grouped together with the train button, to open the Traffic Dashboard.

What it shows:

• Live LTA incidents: accidents, roadworks, road closures, heavy traffic, vehicle breakdowns, and weather-related disruptions, pinned on the map
• Real-time traffic flow: live congestion is drawn beneath the incident pins, so you can see how badly an incident is actually affecting the road. Only congested roads are shaded; free-flowing roads look normal
• Filter by category: tap a category to show only that kind of incident. The map re-frames itself around whatever your filter matches

Alerts: subscribe to the incident categories you care about in the dashboard, and Bustro will notify you when a new one is reported.

On a bus stop: real-time traffic also appears on the bus stop map alongside live bus positions, so a bus that isn't moving comes with visible road context.

Traffic incident data is provided by Singapore's Land Transport Authority. Real-time traffic flow is provided by Apple Maps.

Access: Tap the train button on the main map screen to view Singapore's complete MRT/LRT network map.

Features:

• Up to date: LTA's latest system map edition, and the Circle Line loop is complete, including Keppel (CC30), Cantonment (CC31), and Prince Edward Road (CC32)
• Interactive viewing: pan and pinch-zoom to explore the entire network
• High resolution: crystal-clear map with all stations and lines
• Legend: comprehensive legend for all MRT and LRT lines
• All four languages: the map and its legend are provided in English, Malay, Tamil, and Simplified Chinese
• Integration: find bus stops near MRT stations for seamless transfers

Journey planning: perfect for planning multi-modal trips combining buses and trains across Singapore.

Bustro 3.3.0 is fully localised in English, Malay (Bahasa Melayu), Tamil (தமிழ்), and Simplified Chinese (简体中文).

To change language:

1. Open Menu > Settings > Change Language
2. Bustro opens iOS Settings, where you pick your preferred language for the app
3. The app restarts with the new language applied

Bus Data (under Menu > Updates) manages the offline dataset of bus stops, services, and routes that Bustro keeps on your device.

• Refresh Now: pulls the latest stops, services, and routes from LTA immediately
• Refresh Every: choose an automatic refresh cadence: Never, 2 Weeks, 1 Month (default), or 3 Months. When the period has passed, Bustro refreshes the data the next time you open the app

Live arrival times are separate. They always come in real time and are controlled by the Refresh Interval setting under Settings > Bus Arrivals.

Head to the Support section of the app menu:

• Report a Bug opens a short form pre-filled with your app version, iOS version, and device model, so you don't have to look them up. No personal data is included.
• Request a Feature opens a form where you can tell us what you'd like to see next.

You can also email us directly. See the contact details below.

If an Alight Reminder or Track Arrival countdown doesn't show up:

1. Check iOS Settings > Bustro > Live Activities is enabled
2. Ensure notifications are allowed for Bustro
3. Live Activities end automatically after your trip or after an extended period. Start a new one if it has expired
4. The Dynamic Island appears on supported iPhone models; on other models the countdown still shows on the Lock Screen

If "prepare to alight", "time to alight", or "bus arriving soon" alerts aren't coming through:

• Allow notifications in iOS Settings > Notifications > Bustro
• Check that a Focus mode or Do Not Disturb isn't silencing Bustro
• For Alight Reminder alerts while the app is in the background, grant "Always" location permission, or keep the app open during your ride
• Alerts need an internet connection to receive live data

Bustro is designed to be battery-friendly:

• Background location runs only while an Alight Reminder is active, and only intensively during the final approach to your stop
• Live Activities are updated by efficient push notifications, not by the app running constantly
• You can lengthen the live-arrival Refresh Interval (Settings > Bus Arrivals) to reduce network activity
• Turn off Auto-Track Bus Arrivals if you don't want map tracking to start automatically

Solutions:

• Check your internet connection (WiFi or cellular)
• Try switching between WiFi and cellular data
• Check your Refresh Interval setting (Settings > Bus Arrivals), or pull to refresh manually
• LTA occasionally has maintenance, and timing will resume automatically

Troubleshooting:

• Tap the widget's refresh button to fetch the latest arrivals immediately
• iOS limits how often widgets refresh in the background, so occasional short delays are normal
• "Use Nearest Stop" mode needs location access to pick the closest favourite
• Ensure you have at least one favourite stop saved in the app

Quick fixes:

1. Force-close the app and reopen it
2. Restart your iPhone
3. Ensure you have the latest app version
4. Check available storage space

If the problem persists, use Menu > Report a Bug. The form includes your device details automatically, which helps us fix the issue faster.

Troubleshooting:

• Ensure location services are enabled
• Check internet connectivity
• Try zooming out and back in
• Restart the app if the map appears blank

All Singapore bus operators:

• SBS Transit (SBST)
• SMRT Buses
• Tower Transit Singapore
• Go-Ahead Singapore

Data sources:

• LTA DataMall: real-time arrivals, bus stops, services, and routes
• BusRouter SG: bus route geometry drawn on the map
• data.gov.sg: weather, rainfall, lightning, air quality, and temperature

Coverage: 5,000+ bus stops and 400+ bus services across Singapore, with real-time arrival data.

Requirements:

• iOS version: iOS 17.0 or later
• Location services: optional, but needed for nearby stops, walking distances, and Alight Reminder
• Internet: required for real-time data
• iCloud: optional, for syncing favourites and journeys across devices
• Live Activities: the countdown appears on every iPhone's Lock Screen; the Dynamic Island appears on models that have one