Transit technology companies launch new, upgraded software to improve transit management experience

Technology vendors around the public transit industry, including Spare, Via and Optibus, have released new products or pushed upgrades to their platforms designed to improve management operations for transit agencies.

Spare upgrades artificial intelligence (AI) operations platform with addition of fixed-route tools

Spare has announced an expansion of its unified AI-native platform with the launch of Spare Fixed Route. With fixed-route planning, scheduling, operations and GTFS now built into the same AI-native platform that agencies already use for demand-response, the company says transit teams can manage every mode of service in one system.

Spare says that transit agencies have relied on disconnected tools to design routes, schedule service, manage daily operations and publish rider information. Spare’s platform unifies these workflows, offering agencies a single system to coordinate service across modes, reduce operational complexity and respond more effectively to ebbing rider and community needs.

With the introduction of Spare Fixed Route, the company notes that agencies can now plan routes and stops, build schedules, monitor live service and publish GTFS data to rider-facing apps within the same platform. Instead of stitching together multiple services or doing manual handoffs, Spare says that transit teams can now run fixed route, on-demand and paratransit service through a shared, AI-native operational foundation.

“Transit agencies need technology that matches the way service actually works, not a collection of disconnected systems,” said Spare CEO and Co-Founder Kristoffer Vik Hansen. “Our vision is to create a single, AI-native platform that connects planning, operations and rider information across every type of transit service. This unified intelligence layer helps agencies bring those services together in a smarter way by spotting transfer opportunities, reducing operational blind spots and improving how the whole network works. Fixed route is a key part of that vision, and this launch is another step toward giving agencies one flexible foundation for running public transportation.”

Through a map-based interface, planners can design routes and stops, define service calendars and timetables and create reusable templates for recurring service patterns. Schedules can then be built and visualized by day, week or month, giving teams a simpler way to plan, coordinate and manage service across the same unified platform, according to Spare.‍

"Our city partners in North Miami Beach, Coral Springs and the city of Tamarac have benefited greatly from these capabilities,” said ProKel Mobility Business Development Senior Vice President Logan McLead. “In each community, Spare has directly contributed to increased service utilization and dramatic improvements in operational productivity."

Spare says operations teams gain a real-time view of vehicles, routes and schedules across services while dispatchers can monitor whether vehicles are early or late, track traffic conditions and quickly create detours when incidents or events disrupt normal service.

Spare Fixed Route also simplifies what the company calls one of the most challenging aspects of transit operations: GTFS data management. Instead of maintaining a separate GTFS system, agencies can generate schedules and real-time feeds directly from the platform. Spare then publishes this data to rider-facing services, working to ensure riders always see accurate schedules and live vehicle locations through a unified source of truth.

“Transit networks are becoming more dynamic, and the agencies that will thrive are the ones with technology that can keep pace,” said Spare Growth Vice President James McCarthy. “At Spare, we’re building a network operating system for public transit, one where fixed route, on-demand and paratransit work together as a connected service, not separate systems. When agencies share data and operations across modes, they can identify transfer opportunities, respond to service gaps in real time and help riders move through the network more seamlessly. Fixed-route is an important step toward that vision.”

By bringing planning, operations and rider information together across service types, Spare says its technology helps agencies move beyond fragmented, legacy systems and operate with greater clarity and control.

Via launches Scheduling and Supply Studio

Via is launching its new Scheduling and Supply Studio platform—a suite of tools designed to leverage AI to help agencies build more efficient supply plans across fixed-route and demand response services.

Via says that agencies are spending too much time and money building supply plans manually while still ending up with inefficient coverage, mismatched service levels and avoidable operational waste. Via says the Scheduling and Supply Studio provides a fully integrated platform for optimizing vehicle and driver availability to rider demand, allowing agencies to reduce waste, cut operating costs and improve service reliability across their entire network.

“We’re delighted to launch the Scheduling and Supply Studio and empower our customers to make faster and more informed decisions by modeling supply planning scenarios across both fixed-route and demand response networks,” said Via Chief Product Officer Nithya Sowrirajan. “This product is the first of its kind in the market and another key step forward in enabling Via’s platform to power and optimize every facet of public transportation.”

Over the past decade, Via says it has built comprehensive datasets of real-world transit movement used to train its AI models. Billions of data points captured across the 800-plus services Via powers provided the company insights into how real-world transit systems behave—combining real-time ridership data with sophisticated forecasting models to ensure that supply is being planned for real world conditions.

Via says the Scheduling and Supply Studio leverages this data to proactively identify scheduling enhancements that minimize dead time and reduce unnecessary guaranteed hours while ensuring timeliness and efficiency of the service.

Key features of the platform include:

• Shared fleet and drivers across modes: Agencies can gain efficiencies by scheduling vehicles and drivers across modes in a single platform.
• Optimized supply and demand matching: Real-time ridership and predictive demand allow for dynamic supply allocation throughout the day in an effort to better the rider experience and heighten productivity.
• AI Schedule Builder: Agencies can upload their labor agreements and vehicle and operator constraints, and the AI agent will surface an optimized schedule ready to review and roster—all from one platform.

Optibus launches Demand Response Transport (DRT) planning tool with native GTFS Flex support

Optibus has announced the launch of its new DRT Planning feature within the planning module. The company says this update empowers transit agencies to bridge the gap between fixed-route reliability and the adaptability of flexible routes.

As transportation agencies and operators increasingly supplement or replace low-ridership fixed routes with flexible service, Optibus says the tools available to planners have not kept pace—particularly within fixed-route planning environments. The launch of DRT capabilities within the planning module streamlines how users design demand-response services, creating a more unified, cohesive and faster workflow, getting rid of the need for exporting data to disconnected GIS applications or other software, managing manual transfers and toggling between platforms built around entirely different service logic. GTFS Flex, which unlocks interoperability and passenger-facing discoverability for DRT services, has remained largely out of reach for agencies without dedicated tooling, according to Optibus.

Optibus says the DRT Planning module changes that, bringing flexible service design and GTFS Flex publishing into the same unified environment planners already use for their fixed-route network.

Optibus says its new feature  provides a seamless "all-in-one" experience that eliminates the need for cumbersome manual data transfers.

"Our goal is to empower agencies to bring all of their services—fixed and flexible—into a single, sophisticated planning environment. With the launch of Optibus’ DRT Planning and our support for GTFS Flex, the public transportation industry gains valuable tools for improving service quality, reaching underserved communities more efficiently and treating demand response service as a first-class part of the network,” said Optibus CEO and Co-Founder Amos Haggiag.

Optibus says GTFS Flex represents a significant step forward for the industry, extending the ubiquitous GTFS standard to encode the booking rules, zone definitions and service logic that make demand response routes work. Optibus notes it is committed to being a leading voice in making GTFS Flex adoption practical and widespread. With native GTFS Flex import and export built directly into the planning workflow, agencies can now model flexible services with the same rigor and precision they apply to fixed routes and publish them so riders can discover and plan trips using the same apps they already rely on.

Key features and capabilities include:

• Flexible route management: Import, define and manage service zones. Build flexible routes with rule definition. Configure booking rules (e.g., prior-notice requirements) and more.
• Comprehensive network view: Give planners the ability to view fixed and flexible routes within the map.
• Dynamic service visualization: Visualize DRT service behavior, including complex multi-zone networks.