Swiftly announced today that the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has selected Swiftly to provide accurate real-time passenger information for all bus and commuter rail routes across 450,000+ stops in the Greater Boston Area. Starting today, these real-time predictions are live. Based on a study performed by the MBTA, Swiftly will increase the accuracy of Boston’s real-time passenger information system from 75% to 84%. The result is an improved passenger experience for over a million daily commuters.

Swiftly Transitime, the transit industry’s most advanced Real-Time Arrival Prediction System (RTAPS), will monitor real-time and historical movements of MBTA’s vehicles to predict arrival times faster and more accurately than existing systems on the market. The system leverages big data and sophisticated algorithms to accurately predict when the next bus or train will arrive.

“We are extremely excited to partner with the MBTA team to transform the passenger experience throughout Boston” said Jonny Simkin, Swiftly’s Co-Founder and CEO. “I believe this collaboration will set a new quality standard for real-time predictions across the industry”

For the first time in the industry, MBTA asked vendors to go head-to-head to find the most accurate passenger information solution. MBTA defined best practices for measuring prediction accuracy, which David Block-Schachter, the CTO at MBTA, outlined in a blog post. Based on these selection criteria, MBTA determined that  Swiftly was the most accurate passenger information system.

“The MBTA is as excited to bring better bus predictions to our customers as we were to launch our first bus predictions 8 years ago” said David Block-Schachter. “With our partnership with Swiftly our customers will spend less time waiting at bus stops, and our service will be more dependable.  We know this is the case because we awarded the contract based on the proven accuracy of the predictions on our system. Improving real time data is essential to the better bus service the MBTA is dedicated to providing to its riders.”

More accurate real-time arrival estimates provide a tremendous benefit to the passenger. As studies show, knowing when a bus will arrive reduces missed buses, minimizes excessive wait times, and can often lead to increased transit ridership and satisfaction.

About Swiftly

Swiftly develops enterprise software to help transit agencies and cities improve urban mobility. Built by transportation experts for transportation professionals, the Swiftly platform harnesses billions of data points and sophisticated algorithms to improve transit system performance, service reliability, and real-time passenger information. Over 50 cities from coast to coast use Swiftly’s technology platform, improving transportation services for millions of riders each day. Swiftly is backed by leading mobility investors, including Ford Smart Mobility, Samsung NEXT, Via ID, and RATP Dev.

About MBTA

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, more commonly known as the T, is one of the oldest public transit systems in the United States. It's also the largest transit system in Massachusetts. As a division of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT), the MBTA provides subway, bus, Commuter Rail, ferry, and paratransit service to eastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island.