Today, Asheville Redefines Transit (ART) made major improvements to their bus experience as Swiftly, Inc., a San Francisco-based mobility solutions company, partnered with ART to bring more accurate real-time transit predictions to the Asheville region. ART, whose routes are operated by RATP Dev USA, a leading transit operator in North America, managed the roll-out, replacing NextBus as ART’s real-time information provider.

As part of this project, new GPS trackers were installed on ART’s buses in Asheville. Swiftly leverages this real-time vehicle position information alongside large volumes of historical data to accurately predict when the next bus will arrive. Riders can now access up-to-the-moment bus arrival and position information for ART buses from their phone, via the Transit App, SMS texting, phone service, or directly from the web.

In addition to real-time arrival predictions, riders have access to live service advisories and delay notifications through Swiftly’s partnership with Trillium Solutions.

ART also benefits from Swiftly’s Insights platform. Swiftly Insights analyzes and visualizes millions of data points to help agencies understand how their transit network is performing. With Swiftly Insights, ART can quickly visualize on-time performance, run-times, and vehicle speeds to determine when, where, and why service issues occur.

“We are excited for this opportunity to enhance the real-time arrival information we provide our passengers,” said Jessica Morriss, Assistant Director of Transportation for the City of Asheville. “We’re confident this improved real-time information will make our transit system easier to use and more accessible to everyone in the Asheville region.”

Swiftly’s CEO Jonny Simkin shares ART’s enthusiasm: “We’re thrilled to partner with ART, RATP Dev, and Trillium. Together, we will improve the experience for people who rely on ART to get around the region, strengthening the system’s overall predictability and usability.”

“Swiftly will not only improve  the passenger experience but also the overall service quality,” said Matt Booterbaugh, VP of Continuous Improvement at RATP Dev USA. “We’re excited to partner with Swiftly and ART, to see more North Carolinians using real-time apps as part of their daily routine, as well as ART’s newfound ability to easily find service improvements.”

Mobile App

As part of the partnership, ART now has an up-to-the-minute integration with Transit App, the most popular public transit app in North America, counting millions of active users in over 175 cities. Upon launching the app, riders can see nearby transit options and departure times in big text and bright colors. Users can easily navigate the region with accurate real-time bus tracking, trip planning, and step-by-step navigation. Transit also gives users information on a variety of transportation options, including walking, biking, transit, rideshare, and more. Riders can download the free Transit mobile app for iOS and Android at transit.app.

Online, SMS, & Voice

Riders can also access ART’s real-time transit information & system map from any browser, either at home or from their smartphone by going to: live.goswift.ly/art.

ART riders can text “nextART”, followed by their bus stop number, to 41411, to receive the next three real-time arrivals for routes that serve that stop via SMS message. Alternatively, riders can also call 828.253.5691 (select option 1) to hear audible next arrival times by bus stop number from any phone.

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 Asheville Redefines Transit

ART is the City of Asheville’s transit service. It currently includes 17 fixed-routes and primarily serves the City of Asheville with some service that connects to nearby Black Mountain. The City of Asheville currently contracts with RATP Dev to operate and maintain the transit system.

About RATP Dev

Founded in 2002, RATP Dev operates and maintains urban transportation systems in 14 countries on four continents (United Kingdom, France, Italy, Switzerland, Algeria, Morocco, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, India, China, South Korea, the Philippines, and the United States of America). With more than 1.5 billion passengers traveling on its networks every year, RATP Dev demonstrates every day its extensive and renowned expertise in a wide range of mobility services, ranging from rail, regional express rail, tramway, to bus, cable car and sightseeing activities. RATP Dev leverages in France, outside of Paris, and across international markets the technical expertise and experience of RATP Group, the leader in driverless and tramway operations and operator of the Paris network, one of the largest public transportation networks in the world. In North America RATP Dev employs over 6,000 team members.