SORTA and Transit App celebrate new EZfare milestone

According to new statistics, the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) says the Transit App is riders’ most-used app to plan, track and pay for their trip.

The all-in-one mobility app Transit and the EZfare mobile ticketing service announced a new milestone: riders have taken 500,000 trips by purchasing and activating their EZfare ticket with the Transit app.

“Transit is built by transit riders for transit riders. We know firsthand what makes a five-star transit trip, so we work with transit agencies to roll out the red carpet for riders at every step of their journey,” said David Block-Schachter, chief business officer at Transit. “The numbers we’re seeing with EZfare make it clear: Transit is indispensable to giving riders everything they need for a seamless trip so they can focus on what matters: getting where they need to go.”

EZfare, a project of the NEORide consortium of transit agencies, launched in October 2019 to simplify fare payment for transit systems across multiple counties. EZfare is now available for 13 transit agencies across Ohio, Kentucky and Michigan, including SORTA and Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky (TANK) in Greater Cincinnati.

“The goal of EZfare is to make transportation ‘EZier’ for our transit clients. The partnership with Transit has helped to achieve this goal by providing a single location where passengers can plan a trip in real time and also purchase their transit fare. We are excited about this milestone and look forward to growing this partnership,” said Katherine Conrad, director of client services, NEORide/EZfare.

EZfare’s goal is to provide mobile ticketing in a way that’s most convenient for riders. Purchases can be made in Transit and two other Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) apps that combine mobile ticketing and real-time trip planning, as well as in the EZfare app. This approach has paid off: of all EZfare sales, nearly 60 percent come from MaaS apps and more than 55 percent happen with Transit.

To make the passenger experience even better, Transit is unveiling a new easy-to-use account history tool, so riders can keep track of their used and purchased tickets across every EZfare agency.

The EZfare ticketing platform is developed by Masabi, the company bringing Fare Payments as-a-Service to public transport and integrated into Transit using Masabi’s Justride SDK.

“EZfare is at the cutting edge of the global Mobility-as-a-Service movement, delivering a highly innovative regional transport model that also boasts greater discoverability and accessibility for public transit options than ever before with tickets available through some of the biggest brands in transportation,” said Brian Zanghi, CEO at Masabi. “This milestone demonstrates the benefits of this approach and we are proud of the fundamental role that the Justride SDK has played working in conjunction with EZfare, Transit and our partners.”

Transit’s all-in-one interface makes life simpler not just for riders, but also for transit agencies. Of the 13 agencies that participate in EZfare, SORTA and TANK have endorsed Transit as the official app for trip planning, real-time bus information and mobile ticketing across the Cincinnati metropolitan area.

“Launching Transit app with EZfare was just one of the many ways we've been working to reinvent [SORTA] for our customers and support better regional mobility," said Darryl Haley, SORTA CEO and general manager. “As we look forward to rolling out new service improvements, our riders can continue to rely on Transit with EZfare to help them navigate our transit system with ease."

“TANK is happy to celebrate a milestone with Transit and our partner transit systems in the region. Our goal when deciding what app to use was to make riding the bus easy for everyone! Transit with EZfare is a one-stop-shop allowing our riders to download one app to plan their trip, track their bus in real time and pay their fare — having access to this tool regionally means a simpler, faster and more convenient way of riding the bus for our customers,” said Andrew Aiello, TANK general manager.