About us
THE BASICS
Tell me the basics
Footbus makes it easy to create, share and manage routes so you can walk, run or ride together.
It can be a hassle arranging to meet up with people via group chats, lots of scrolling to see when and where you’re meeting, who’s coming and where you’re going. With Footbus you create and share a route and anyone can click on it any time to see all the details. With an updated list of route members, live route mapping and in-route messages Footbus lets you make plans, change plans and stay in the loop.
Route visibility options let you create a route and just share it with your friends, or you can create a community, invite people to join it, then everyone in your community can see and join any of that community’s routes. You can even make a public route for anyone to join.
Travel mode options let you create routes to walk, run or ride and the estimated route time is adjusted to suit.
Quick Troubleshooting
A few brief scenarios:
- If you’re having problems creating an account, check that your phone number has no gaps/your email address is correct
- If you’re not receiving notifications, check that notifications are allowed for Footbus in your profile/phone settings
- If you can’t see route progress, make sure you allow Footbus to access your location always/all the time in your profile/phone settings
- Once you make a community, check people have accepted your invitation or let them join if they have been invited by someone else
- If there are no members in your ‘Search Members Here’ field when you create a route or a community, just ‘Continue’ to create a share link to send to friends and colleagues
- Once you’re in a community you can select any other member and add them to your in-app contacts, and they will appear in your members list next time you create a community or route
- If your route is not showing the direction that you want, add a stop where you want it to go
- If you’re looking for route messages, click on the route details and then the ‘Messages’ button
- You can share Footbus with your friends from the hamburger menu
For anything else, read on or email us at contact@footbus.com
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
COMMUNITIES
How do I make a Community?
Open the app, click on ‘Communities’ at the bottom. This will take you to the My Communities page where you can create a new community. If you know other Footbus users, you can search and select those you want in your new community. If not, give your community a name and click ‘Continue’ to create an invitation link to share.
Where does the Community invitation go?
Users will receive a notification that they have been invited to join a community which they click on for details. Or go to ‘Communities’ and select ‘Invitations’. The community invitation will tell you the name of the community and who has invited you to join it.
Can I share the Community invitation?
Yes. You can pass on the share link to join a community, but only the community admin can admit new members, so you might want to let them know that you would like someone else to join their community.
Can I be in more than one Community?
Yes. You can be in as many as you like. You can create communities or join other people’s communities, there is no limit.
How do I know who is in my Community?
Click ‘My Communities’, click the community name, and the list of members will pop up.
Can I add someone to my Community after it is formed?
Yes. Select the community and click ‘Add New Member’ and it will create an invitation link for you to share.
How do I manage my Community?
Select your community and press the three dots by any member’s name. You can add members to your Footbus contacts, add or remove ‘Route Creator Privilege’ to let them create routes (see below) or remove them from your community. You can also create an invitation link to share with someone you want to invite to your community by pressing Add New Member.
What is Route Creator Privilege?
In most cases you will want all your community members to be able to create routes, so when you create a community just leave ‘Route Creator Privilege’ on. If you are making a large community and only want a few members to be able to create routes, you can turn ‘Route Creator Privilege’ off when you create your community. Once members have joined your community, you can select those that you want to be able to create routes and add ‘Route Creator Privilege’. The dots by their name will turn from grey to green when they have ‘Route Creator Privilege’ so you can easily see who in your community can create routes. You can also remove ‘Route Creator Privilege’ in the same way, and the dots by their name will go back to grey..
Can I leave a Community?
Sure, My Communities, community name, select the red ‘Leave Community’ icon.
ROUTES
What are the different visibilities of Routes?
Routes are either Private, Community or Public. A Private route is one you make and share with selected people. Community routes are seen by everyone in the related community. Public routes can be seen by anyone, and should start, stay and stop in busy/public space as you will not necessarily know the people on the route - but of course you can always take a friend or two with you!
What types of Routes can you create?
You can create a walking, running or bike riding route. Just select the option you want from the drop down list.
So how do I create a Route?
Can I make my Route repeat?
Yes, just slide the ‘Repeat this route’ toggle to on and choose the days that you want to repeat the route, and end date.
Can I add Stops?
Yes. You can either just start at one point end at another and add stops along the way, or make a circular route starting and ending at the same place and add a stop or two in the direction you want to go.
Can I change the order of Stops?
Yes. Just click on the drag icon at the side of the stop that you want to move and drag it up or down the list of stops.
How can I change the direction of the route map?
If you want to change the direction the route, add a stop or two in the direction that you want it to travel.
How do I send my Route?
When you press ‘Create and Share Route’, the route will be sent to the people that you have already added to your route and a share link will be created for you to send to anyone else. They will receive a notification with the route details and will be able to accept or decline the Route. The route will be added to your list in My Routes and people will be added to the route members list as they opt to join it.
Can other route members change my route?
If you have left the ‘Allow members to suggest route alterations’ toggle on, they can suggest another stop along the way by pressing ‘Alter’. You can then accept or decline their suggestion. If you accept, just press the button and the route will be adjusted for anyone that has not yet joined, and the adjusted route will be shared with those who have already accepted the route. The person who suggested the additional stop will be notified that their stop has been added.
Route Reminder
Everyone on the route will receive a reminder that the route is about to start, typically around half an hour beforehand.
How do I start my Route
When you have gathered with all your route members, click ‘Start Route’ as you leave. This will allow us to share your location with all route members so that anyone who is meeting you along the route can see where you are so they can be ready to meet you. The route will then move from Upcoming to Ongoing. You can’t start the route before time, but if all route members are with you, you can start walking and press ‘Start Route’ when you get to the start time.
How do I end my Route
When you get to where you are going click End Route. This will tell Footbus to stop tracking your location and allow all route members to leave a review if they want to. You can end the route and stop sharing your location before you reach the end point if you want.
Can I cancel a Route
Yes. Go to My Routes, select the Route and press Cancel Route. Route members will receive a notification that the route is no longer going ahead.
What if I can’t make it but I don’t want to cancel the Route
Any route member can start a route. If you know that you can’t make it but don’t want to cancel, just ask someone else to start the route via route messages. You can then leave the route so people don’t wait for you.
How do I know who is on my Route?
All routes give a list of route members, which is updated as people join or leave a route. If you create and share a route yourself, you will receive notifications as people accept or decline the invitation to join your route. You can also see the route members before you decide to join a route. Select a route in My Routes any time, and click the members list to view a list of the current route members.
How do I contact people on my Route?
Every route comes with in-route messaging. Just select the route in My Routes to send a new message via its ‘Messages’ button. You will see all route messages in one place so will know if someone is on their way but a bit late, or if you are meeting inside if it is raining. Messages will be seen by everyone on the route, and when the route ends the messages expire. Please keep all your messaging civil!
OTHER STUFF
Do you track my location?
We track Footbus users when they start a route so that route members can see where people on the route are. This is really useful if you are meeting at a stop along the route. When you get to your destination, end the route and you can give it a rating. If you forget to end your route when you get to your destination, we will auto-end location tracking after a set period.
What if I don’t want to share my location?
If you are not meeting anyone after the first stop, once you are all together start the route, and you can then end the route straight away, or whenever you like, as you will all be walking together anyway.
What if my friends don’t have Footbus?
Footbus lets you share a link to the app stores via the Account menu. Simply ‘Share Footbus’ and forward the link.
Is Footbus free?
Yes. We really want people to use Footbus. We think it is safer to walk together at night, and more fun to walk together in the day. It is better for your health to walk, run or ride, and for the health of the planet. We will keep it free as long as we can.
How did Footbus come about?
Talking with a student who was worried about crossing a park near university on her own made us think that there must have been other students on campus who felt the same, and who would be happier walking together. We also thought that especially in university towns there are tons of routes that students regularly walk, from halls to campus, from home to the library, to the town centre, to parks, to bars and clubs. Hence the initial idea of a ‘walking bus’ a – Footbus – so that people can walk together.
How do I get in touch?
By email – contact@footbus.com