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By Jonny Simkin, Co-founder and CEO, Swiftly
In 2016, Swiftly launched the first big data platform for public transit. It fundamentally changed how transit agencies leverage large volumes of information, ushering in a new era of data-driven decision making and continuous improvement. Ten years later, more than 200 agencies in 10 countries partner with Swiftly, and we’ve helped them improve on-time performance by up to 40%, increase the accuracy of passenger information by up to 50%, and analyze transit data 10x faster.
Today, I am excited to announce that Swiftly is introducing our AI-powered CAD/AVL solution, built on the transit data platform already trusted by agencies around the world. We thoughtfully designed it around a simple idea: streamline the workflows agency staff run every day to help them deliver reliable and safe service.
First, why this matters
Swiftly’s vantage point in the market is unique. We sit alongside traditional CAD/AVL systems in over 100 transit agencies, and we see exactly where these legacy systems fall apart. Given this, we were not surprised by what a 3rd party survey of more than 75 transit agencies found last year: only 6% of agencies would strongly recommend their CAD/AVL system. That is not a vendor problem; it is a category problem.
Most of these systems trace their architecture to the 1990s, when the job was radio communications between dispatch and operators and tracking vehicles on a map. They were built before the cloud, before mobile, before ubiquitous cellular networks, and before AI, and no amount of patching changes the foundation underneath.
The industry, agency staff, and riders deserve better. Here is what Swiftly’s CAD/AVL solution means in practice.
A friendly user experience designed to help you deliver great service
Ask a dispatcher about their day, and you will hear about how they feel overwhelmed. Radio calls stacking up, a passenger incident on one bus, a missed connection on another, and an incident form waiting to be filled out for every one of them. All while trying to keep service running and on time.
At the same time, operators often lack the support they need. They can feel alone and unsupported as they wait for dispatch to acknowledge their call, or lost when complex instructions are relayed over the radio.
Swiftly already helps operators run service on time and on route, and enables dispatchers to identify issues and adjust service quickly and easily. But we have taken it further.
Swiftly Communications applies AI to improve workflows. Operators don't have to wait for a dispatcher to accept their “request-to-talk”. Calls are transcribed and summarized in real time, then ranked by urgency, so safety-critical incidents surface first for dispatchers rather than being buried behind routine calls. Every conversation is recorded, which means the compliance record writes itself. The system is designed to support staff who operate under immense time pressure.
Incident management picks up from there. As staff resolve an incident over voice communications, the safety and compliance documentation is completed automatically in the background and queued for human review. All relevant information, such as the time, bus number, operator, and location, is auto-linked. No transcribing notes twice, and no hunting for data through multiple systems or handwritten notes. Everything is saved automatically with a trustworthy audit trail documenting what happened. This context also helps staff understand the root cause of issues so that they can fix them in the future.
The outcomes follow the workflow. Denton County Transportation Authority improved on-time performance by 18.6% and cut early departures by 65% after expanding Swiftly across their operation. MDOT MTA in Baltimore found that buses leveraging Swiftly’s onboard app were 25% more likely to run on time. Swiftly is helping agencies deliver great service.
"We are utilizing technology to give our dispatchers and operators the tools to make timely decisions and deliver improved and more reliable travel for our riders."
—Phillip Eng, General Manager & CEO, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA)
Powered by the industry's most trusted data
A common concern we hear from agency staff around the world is that they don’t trust the data from their current CAD/AVL. At Swiftly, we have spent over a decade building the industry’s leading transit data platform to help agencies overcome this. This foundation matters more than ever in the age of AI, because AI models are only as good as the data fed into them.
Swiftly’s CAD/AVL is an extension of this high-quality transit data already trusted by over 14,000 agency staff around the world. The same real-time, historical, and predictive data that riders and staff already rely on now flows seamlessly through operations, dispatch, field supervisors, and operators. When a schedule changes, all dispatch screens and onboard devices are updated instantly. When a detour is entered, what the dispatcher sees is what the operator sees, and it flows to what riders see as well. Every stakeholder relies on the same trustworthy and consistent information.
The same data that helps agencies deliver great service is also what the federal government asks them to report for funding purposes. Swiftly provides relief there too, turning weeks of manual number-crunching into automatically produced National Transit Database (NTD) Reports ready to file.
More accurate and trustworthy data can result in transformational change. SEPTA in Philadelphia saw a 26% increase in the accuracy of their ETAs, resulting in 31 million additional annual rider trips with trustworthy information. Valley Metro in Phoenix leveraged trustworthy performance data from Swiftly to help improve their on-time performance by 10% systemwide, a historic gain. Swiftly has a proven track record of supporting 200+ agencies around the world with the trusted information they need to understand, manage, and improve service.
"A really important outcome is that there's a common understanding of the data. Everybody can speak to the data, understand the data, trust the data."
—Mike Helta, Chief Customer Experience Officer, MDOT MTA
Easy to deploy, built for innovation
We constantly hear about the pains of implementing CAD/AVL systems. Years of installation, partial fleet visibility during cutover resulting in staff and rider complaints, and a system that starts aging the day it goes live.
This changes with Swiftly CAD/AVL. Installation is fast and painless, requires less hardware than traditional solutions, and agencies benefit from full fleet visibility during cutover. Riders and most staff will never know the transition is occurring and will benefit from more accurate data even before a single hardware device is swapped. And agencies no longer need teams of dedicated staff to manage the implementation of Swiftly. It’s simple and turnkey.
Inside the vehicle, Swiftly supports a modern operator interface that delivers real-time operational and navigation guidance. Where we have deployed this, agencies have seen their on-time performance increase by up to 25%. In addition, Swiftly Bridge, a lightweight, industrial-grade onboard computer, controls common peripherals such as APCs, AVAS, Headsigns, and farebox systems, and is thoughtfully designed for easy remote management.
Schedule changes, onboard software updates, operator sign-on changes, and device management all happen over the air in minutes. No more waiting for days, hoping a bus connects to WiFi at the yard to download an update or upload old on-time performance data. Devices are monitored and managed remotely, across the whole fleet, from anywhere.
You are always on the latest and greatest version of the software. Swiftly has averaged 60+ software updates every week, over the air, with zero downtime, at 99.9%+ uptime so far in 2026. With Swiftly, your system improves every week, every month, every year, after it’s implemented. And you don't have to lift a finger or pay for a version upgrade.
“Swiftly innovates rapidly, and it's been fun to watch the product evolve and improve over the years, often based on our own feedback. The fact that software updates are rolled out behind the scenes means we've never had to spend staff time on them, which has also been a game changer.”
—Jon Nouchi, Director of Transit, City and County of Honolulu Department of Transportation Services
And the partnership does not end at go-live. Our training is outcomes-driven and built around how each agency actually runs service — not a generic checklist — and it shows in the highest customer satisfaction scores in the industry.
Where this goes next
CAD/AVL systems designed over 20+ years ago are no longer sufficient. The world, available technologies, and user expectations have changed tremendously over this time. Agencies deserve not only a modern platform that will serve them today, but also a partner who will grow with them for decades to come.
At Swiftly, we’re committed to being this partner and providing you with a CAD/AVL solution that not only just works, but will also evolve continuously. Stay tuned…we are just getting started.
If your CAD/AVL is up for renewal, or you are simply tired of maintaining a system that doesn’t serve your needs, let's talk.
