Public transit gets help improving ridership with Optibus’ release of multi-route planning capabilities

Optibus has launched a new cloud platform-based set of multi-route planning capabilities that enables agencies and operators to plan multiple routes at once, making it easier for them to prioritize passenger needs for reliable, frequent and high-quality bus service while increasing operation efficiency and reducing costs.

“The way to increase ridership is to improve transportation in ways that directly affect existing and potential passengers,” said Optibus CEO and co-founder Amos Haggiag. “Our multi-route planning capabilities empower transit providers to do exactly that.”

With Optibus’ multi-route planning, transit agencies and operators can rely on a high-tech, user-friendly solution to plan multiple routes at the same time. This allows transit providers to get a view of the entire transit corridor at once and coordinate trip times that would benefit passengers traveling through the corridor. Use of Optibus’ multi-route planning capabilities would allow transportation agencies and operators to do the following:

• Reduce bus bunching and wait time: One way to reduce bus bunching is by adjusting headways, the time interval between buses moving in the same direction. Schedulers can use Optibus’ planning and scheduling software to adjust headways on one route at a time, or they can analyze arrival and departure times for all buses traveling through the same transit corridor and adjust the headways such that passengers will regularly have a bus available across different routes.

• Coordinate transfer points: The need to transfer from one bus to another or from one mode of fixed-schedule transportation to another can be a deterrent for passengers, in part because the transfers are not always timed smoothly. These transfer points can be difficult to plan when viewing one route at a time but become clearer when planning multiple routes in one timetable.

• Interline bus routes: While coordinating transfer points helps passengers make smoother transfers, interlining can be used to eliminate the need for transferring altogether on certain trips. Planning multiple routes in the timetable at the same time makes it easier to have buses interline, or switch from one route to another for select trips at a transfer point that both routes have in common. Optibus’ multi-route planning supports scheduling interlining buses in which the bus and driver switch routes as passengers stay on board. Passengers who would ordinarily need to transfer from one bus to the other at the transfer point can stay on the bus as it switches to a different route and arrive at their destination without needing to transfer buses.

Optibus’ multi-route planning capabilities are part of an advanced planning and scheduling platform powered by a tech stack that includes optimization algorithms, artificial intelligence (AI) and distributed cloud computing. These can also be used to improve a bus network’s appeal to riders. For instance, Optibus uses AI to evaluate historic on-time performance and then assess and predicts the likelihood that buses in any given schedule will arrive and depart on time. These solutions enable transportation agencies and operators around the world to quickly and flexibly plan mass transportation on one cohesive platform, including route and timetable planning, vehicle and crew scheduling and roster building.

“Transportation providers are now able to catch up to the tech revolution sweeping through the mobility industry by using advanced technology like machine learning and cloud computing to improve the quality of the mass transit operating in their cities,” said Haggiag. “And you know what happens when people are more satisfied with the quality of public transit? They increase their transit use.”

 The public transit advocacy group TransitCenter found in a 2019 ridership report that the quality of transit service can either build ridership or discourage it with higher satisfaction adding up to almost one extra day a month of transit use. Use of a cutting-edge planning and scheduling platform like Optibus can not only reduce costs and increase operational efficiency for transit providers but also improve transit quality for passengers.