As users of our Premium service, know, Clever Commute can be much more than a place for crowdsourced info. (ref: The five data sources)
And, as commuters know, the transit providers continue to try to share timely info directly with their commuters.
Clever Commute can bring both of these together in the app.
For years, "official info" was a Premium feature. During the covid crisis, we will make this content available to all users,
Here's an example:
| Summary: I try to be fair. I love running Clever. It's passion of mine...but I need your help covering the costs. If you are having second thoughts about the actual dollar cost of subscribing to the Premium version of Clever Commute, please read this and consider upgrading by using the Premium feature of the free app. |
The Clever Commute guy is an everyday NJT rider, who has been running this service for 14 years, using his own funds. See the table below to understand the costs to design, build and maintain a scalable app/service such as this.
Back-of-the-envelop math will show you that simply selling the app for $1.99 (or $2.99, or even more) is not a tenable model...especially when you remember that Apple/Google keep 30% of that right off the top.
Regarding banner ads: I have previously said they are a way to make nickles and dimes. Trust me: that statement is only a slight exaggeration. Therefore, a subscription model is the only way to build and maintain a scalable robust solution. I've been doing this since 2006. Yes, I am in this for the long haul 🙂
Summing it up: I am a 5-day-a-week commuter. I have a full-time job in NYC. I run Clever as a passion project.
Your financial support helps to defray the costs of running this service. I really appreciate each and every subscriber.
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Start by recognizing that the App Stores take 30% of revenue right off the top.
But with all that being said, here are other things to think about
My point: I try to be fair. I'm OK to run Clever as a public service...so I need your help covering the costs. Please consider upgrading by using the Premium feature of the free app. Overview and Feature List.
| Look at the Complexity | Understand the Dollar Costs |
| Technical integration with at least 5 transit providers We provide solutions for iOS as well as Android We offer paid as well as free versions We support 5 categories of data (not just crowdsourced) Maintaining a presence for the app in 2 app stores Our app communicates/publishes via e-mail, push notifications, web, RSS/XML and Twitter We also manage a presence on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok | It starts with the cost to build and maintain all these features. But it also includes the cost of vendors/providers I pay for ...
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| This page explains one or more of the dozens of amazing features found in Clever Commute Premium. |
The Heads-Up feature sends Premium users the official view of their commute at the user’s stated travel time.
Some riders want to suppress those alerts. To accomplish that, they may use another Premium feature: the ability to stop notifications from any given user. How to:
A longer (and older) video about this feature is here
The implemenation (and pros/cons) varies by provider per the table below
| Provider | Nickname | Note |
| LIRR | Official_LIRR | This will also stop notifications for intraday official LIRR alerts |
| Metro-North | Official_MNR | Other intraday notifications come from Official_MetroNorth…so user can decide to suppress one or both |
| NJ Transit Trains | Official_NJT | Other intraday notifications come from line-specific accounts…so user can decide to suppress one or both |
| This page explains one or more of the dozens of amazing features found in Clever Commute Premium. |
Our robots scan MTA's Service Status to identify emerging problems with the in-process commute.
Our algorithms identify "status" patterns to highlight looming trouble that the transit providers won't tell you about!
When a problem is severe enough, and it affects multiple branches, our bots let you know.
(something simple like "Planned weekend work" does not make the cut)
Premium users can opt-in to being notified via Settings => Comms and And Config
See notification options under Alerts/Bots/Probes.
We will also publish such alerts to the News you Need section of the app.
Note: Our implementations (NJT vs LIRR) are tailored to the differences between the data provided to developers by the transit providers. The MNR version is still in beta.
Here is an example of what Clever Commute Premium LIRR riders receive.
| This page explains one or more of the dozens of amazing features found in Clever Commute Premium. |
This page has been moved. New location.
When we first rolled out The Inside Track, (approx 2014) it was a unique and powerful tool.
Since that time, we moved all its functionality (and more) to its successor: Clever Commute Premium (CCP).
Therefore, The Inside Track is no longer supported.
CCP is app based, so please go to your app store (iOS or Android) and get the Clever Commute app today.
There is an in-app purchase option for CCP.
More info about CCP here: https://clevercommute.com/premium