I don't have a smartphone - how do I use BART?

Owned by Catherine Randall
Last updated: Apr 14, 2021
3 min read

Problem

You don't have a smartphone, but you would still like to use the BART system for alerts and attendance.

Solution

If you don't have a smartphone, you can still use BART via SMS and email.

Watch: Send a BART Broadcast via Email


SMS

You can send and receive SMS alerts and notifications via our high priority SMS service. This can be setup alongside your regular smartphone push notifications, or in lieu of push notifications (if you don't have a smartphone).

In order to send and receive notifications and responses through SMS, you must:

  • Have a BART membership with a current subscription
  • Have pre-purchased SMS credits - individually or through your group or district (you can purchase SMS credits here)
  • Your membership settings must have 'SMS Send Instructions' set to ON (you may need to talk to your group administrator to enable this setting)
  • The broadcast tags relating to your membership must have the 'SMS' column set to 'ALL'
  • Your mobile number must be associated with your BART membership details

If you're an administrator, you can read through all the steps to set your members up with SMS here

Send a Broadcast via SMS

The number that you use to send a broadcast is: +61400801246

To send a Broadcast via SMS, you must ensure that you have 'send' permissions for your group. The SMS must include the appropriate formatting tags in order for it to process.

Below are some examples of what can be included in your SMS broadcast:

MSG:

Enter your message after this tag ONLY if you have permission to send to just one capcode or broadcast tag. If you have permission to send to more than one, you will need to specify the capcode or broadcast tag here first.

Alert

Include this tag if your message is an alert.

ADDR:

Enter in the relevant address.

LATLNG:

Enter in the latitude and longitude details if available.
The format must be: Latitude,Longitude

REF: 

Enter in the Incident Number or ID if available.

If your message is an alert, you must include this tag before the message content

Example

An example of how the above formatting tags might look in a real world situation:

MSG: BART-TEAM Alert House fire. Thick smoke everywhere ADDR: 420 Burwood Hwy Wantirna Sth VIC REF: INC452747

  • The CAPCODE or BROADCAST TAG is: BART-TEAM
  • The message is an ALERT, which is set before the message content
  • The ADDRESS is: 420 Burwood Hwy Wantirna South VIC
  • The REFERENCE is:  INC452747


Please note: there must be a space before the formatting tag, to ensure the system picks it up. 

For example, House fireADDR: is not valid


Respond to a Broadcast via SMS

The number you use to respond to a broadcast is: +61451562788

You can respond to a broadcast via SMS to indicate your attendance status, by simply entering in a number:

0 - Not Attending

1 - Attending

2 - Other


If required, you can also share your ETA by entering a dot or hashtag after your status:

Example using a dot

1.20

(response.time)
Attending, with a 20 minute ETA


Example using a hashtag

1#20

(response#time)
Attending, with a 20 minute ETA


Email

Send a broadcast via Email

Broadcasts can be sent out via email through the following formats:

  • HTML
  • Plain text
  • Rich text
Recipient

The recipient information is indicated by specifying a capcode in one of the following location:

The capcode can be the actual code, or the name.

eg. Wooroloo BFB

The Message

Any text entered into the email body (not including any additional formatting tags) will form the message. Please don't include any additional content such as email signatures in the email body.

To avoid any unwanted text in your message (such as an email signature or automated footer), please enter the following tag to ensure the BART system ignores everything after:

#end

Optional Tags

Alert
If your message is an alert, you can include the 'ALERT' tag at the start of your body text

Location
You can include an address or latitude & longitude coordinates in your message.

  • LATLNG: (Latitude, Longitude)
  • ADDR: (Address)

Incident Reference
You can also include an incident reference.

  • REF: (Reference Number)
Attachments

Attachments can be added to the message, as long as they are one of the following formats:

  • JPEG
  • JPG
  • PNG
  • TIFF
  • BMP
  • MP4
  • MP3
  • PDF
  • DOCX