Riders consistently rank reliable real-time information as one of the most important aspects of transit service; that’s why agencies know how vital it is to keep real-time information up to date, especially when the unexpected comes up.
Building on the recent announcement of Swiftly and Transit’s support for detours we’re excited to announce today a new data integration between Vontas, Swiftly, and Transit that allows information to flow seamlessly between the three platforms to give riders accurate and accessible updates during ad hoc changes to service.
By incorporating Vontas’ market leading CAD/AVL Service Disruption features, agencies now have a central location to create ad-hoc service changes by central control or in-field support staff using Vontas OnRoute. The changes are then enhanced by Swiftly and shared via APIs to riders through Transit’s mobile app, Vontas, and other passenger information platforms.
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Vontas + Swiftly + Transit: A New Industry Paradigm
As of today, agencies have access to an end-to-end integration that links Vontas, Swiftly, and Transit in a best-in-class data flow that enhances staff efficiency and the rider experience. The result is highly accurate real-time information with data flowing seamlessly across a transit agency’s critical vendors—from CAD/AVL to dynamic passenger information engine to passenger facing mobile app.
The end-to-end data flow takes inspiration from MDOT MTA’s in-house integration that connects Vontas OnRoute and Swiftly to share real-time disruption information with passengers via the Transit app. MDOT MTA’s work, which built upon Vontas Service Disruptions and Swiftly’s Service Adjustment APIs, revolutionized how MTA staff keeps riders informed during service interruptions, and opened the doors for further collaboration among Vontas, Swiftly, and Transit.
Starting today, we’re excited to announce that all transit agencies that partner with Vontas, Swiftly, and Transit now have access to this field-tested, industry-leading data flow.
Here’s How it Works
The integration works by linking three groundbreaking product updates spearheaded by Vontas, Swiftly, and Transit:
1. Data Now Flows Seamlessly from Vontas OnRoute to Swiftly
Vontas OnRoute stands out as a modular, innovative solution that seamlessly integrates with top industry partners. As the only CAD/AVL provider to take this unique approach, transit agencies are empowered to create a customized solution perfectly aligned with their operational needs.
Since the launch of Swiftly’s Service Adjustments product, Swiftly users have described over and over the unprecedented power unlocked by automatically incorporating changes to service into their real-time predictions and historical data.
This power now extends to agencies who use Vontas Service Disruptions as their primary system for operational changes to service. With the new integration, key operational updates made in Vontas OnRoute—including detour information, trip cancelations and stop closures—now flow seamlessly to Swiftly’s Transit Data Platform via Swiftly’s Service Adjustments API. Swiftly then factors this information into its industry-leading prediction algorithm to generate highly accurate ETAs, and allows rider alerts to be associated with the service adjustments. All this information then flows directly to riders through the Transit app, and is also shared with other passenger information systems, real-time staff tools, and historical analytics products.
The integration makes Vontas the first and only CAD/AVL provider to send Service Disruption data directly to Swiftly to support an end-to-end experience that just works—with no extra steps from agency staff.
Transit agencies who use both Vontas OnRoute and Swiftly Service Adjustments have access to this data flow starting today at no additional cost for implementation.
2. Swiftly Now Sends Detailed Detours Data to Transit via a New GTFS-Rt Extension
Swiftly and Transit have expanded their long partnership to develop a new extension of the GTFS-rt specification, called Trip-Modifications, that allows the display of detour information for the first time.
As detours flow into the Swiftly system directly or from Vontas they automatically inform ETAs in Swiftly’s prediction engine and now show up beautifully for passengers in Transit, which is the first and only app to support detoured routes.
3. Transit Is the Only App to Display Detours in Real Time to Riders
With its unique interface, Transit is now the first and only mobile app to display Trip-Modifications information to passengers in a dynamic, real-time map. Detours that are flagged in the Swiftly system directly or from Vontas, as well as those identified by Transit’s first-of-its-kind automated detour detection system, now display on the map for agencies that have partnered with Transit.
Taken together, these integrations allow detour information to flow seamlessly from Vontas to Swiftly to Transit, enabling agencies to more easily keep riders up-to-date during unexpected detours and service disruptions.
MDOT MTA
Michael Helta, Chief Customer Experience Officer, MDOT MTA, said:At the end of the day, when our vendors integrate well with each other, it's our riders who benefit. This is always top of mind for us, but it was particularly relevant when exploring options for real-time detour updates to riders. We saw how an integration between our key partner vendors—Vontas, Swiftly, and Transit—could keep riders informed with necessary disruption information.
That's exactly why we invested in building the integration in house, and the result has been even greater than the sum of its parts. It's great to see this being replicated and available to all other transit agencies. We're thrilled to be the first agency to use this integration to show detours to our passengers.
Swiftly
Jonny Simkin, Co-founder and CEO, Swiftly, said:Riders deserve accurate and timely information around service disruptions, but technology limitations and closed ecosystems have prevented it in the past. With this industry-first collaboration between Vontas, Swiftly, and Transit, those barriers are gone.
We're thrilled to see this integration benefit millions of riders with more accurate and timely information and thousands of agency staff who no longer need to enter data multiple times in multiple systems. It's a huge leap forward for the industry, and we're so excited to be pioneering this change along with Vontas and Transit!
Transit
David Block-Schachter, Chief Business Officer, Transit, said:There are few things more frustrating than realizing that your bus won’t ever show up, and your agency didn’t communicate about it. Maybe it was on a detour. Maybe the stop was moved. Maybe the trip was canceled entirely. It’s exactly these moments when riders need information the most. For too long the industry has failed them, since most CAD/AVL providers and most rider-facing apps didn’t adequately support service adjustments.
That changes today. This new integration between Vontas, Swiftly, and Transit moves data from the system of record, to operational staff in the field, and directly to the most important people of all, riders. MDOT Maryland Transit Administration led the way by giving riders this critical info through Transit’s intuitive interface, with a first-of-its-kind real-time detour map. We’re excited for more agencies to hop on board.
Vontas
Peter Aczel, General Manager, Vontas, said:We’re excited to announce our partnership with Swiftly, Transit, and the Maryland Transit Administration aimed at streamlining the entire service disruption process. Starting with our modular Vontas OnRoute platform, data will flow from our CAD/AVL solution to Swiftly’s dynamic passenger information engine, and then to Transit’s passenger facing mobile app, providing real-time information to riders along their journey.
Vontas stands out as the only ITS provider using Open APIs to give operators access to integrated best-in-class solutions which gives agencies the flexibility to select a solution tailored to their specific requirements. We’re happy to join forces with Swiftly and Transit to lead the way in introducing this approach to the industry.
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This article was originally published by Swiftly.
