TransitChat Week One: Kickoff & Vision

August 15, 2025 marked a big milestone for us at TransitChat—our official kickoff. Founder and CEO Walter Jenkins shared the vision behind the platform, walked through our product, and demoed how TransitChat is already helping transit agencies cut through the communication chaos.

Why TransitChat Exists

Public transportation agencies run on communication—but most of that communication is scattered in email inboxes. Important context gets buried, accountability slips, and operations get bogged down.

As Walter shared during the kickoff, TransitChat is built to:

• Turn communication into documentation automatically
• Transform documentation into reporting
• Cut the chaos of endless forwarding and lost context
• Deliver a 20% cost reduction compared to similar systems, while improving accountability and service

Instead of adding “another system,” TransitChat leverages the tools agencies already use—like email—and makes them smarter, searchable, and collaborative.

What We’ve Heard from Agencies

Over the past year, Walter interviewed over a dozen agencies and worked hands-on with Kansas City’s KCATA. The feedback was clear:

• “That’s not what we agreed to” is a common frustration when decisions aren’t documented.
• Everything lives in Outlook, but you can’t search by route or stop ID.
• Forwarding emails to get people “in the loop” just adds to the clutter.
• Onboarding new software is often a heavy lift, especially when staff are already stretched.

The best compliment so far? KCATA’s team saying:

“It’s so smart you’re moving us away from email—using email. This is nothing like Asana.”

How TransitChat Works

TransitChat introduces a lightweight but powerful structure to agency communication:

• Inbox – Send any email to inbox@transit.chat to instantly capture and organize it.
• Conversations – Every email thread becomes a shareable, visible conversation.
• Topics – Related conversations get grouped, so everyone has the full context.
• Assignments – Action items are tracked, with clear accountability.
• Email Digests – Managers get daily, weekly, or monthly summaries without more meetings.

TransitChat doesn’t just log incidents—it connects them across planning, scheduling, customer service, and operations, ensuring issues move from report to resolution.

Real-World Demo

During the kickoff, Walter showed how easy it is to:

• Forward multiple Outlook emails into a single TransitChat conversation
• Tag them by route and department
• Attach files or photos (like a “seriously gross bus stop” at 12th & Main)
• Organize those conversations into a topic
• Create assignments for field teams, track progress, and mark blockers

Instead of siloed inboxes, the whole agency sees the same context, searchable by stop, route, or department.

Pricing That Matches Reality

TransitChat charges only for users who log into the platform. That means a 50-person call center can submit issues on day one, without agencies paying for all 50 accounts.

Looking Ahead

TransitChat is here to help agencies focus less on chasing emails and more on serving riders. As Walter closed out the session:

“Every time you organize your emails today, you’re doing it just for yourself. With TransitChat, you’re creating institutional knowledge for your entire team.”

We’re excited about the progress made so far—and even more excited about what’s coming next.