Many vendors provide the transportation industry with various types of transit scheduling software. Although some of these are larger and well-known, smaller businesses also exist which also provide customized solutions. If you attend an American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Expo, you will be more easily able to find vendors in the industry. You can also look at a buyer’s guide on APTA’s website for listings of different categories of vendors, including vendors selling software. Paid advertising will also be found there.
This article only includes examples of vendors and software packages and is not designed to promote any or be a complete list. Promotional language is not used or accepted. It is encouraged for other active vendors to be added so that a reference page may be created.
Usually, transit software packages are usually not available off the shelf. Instead, they must be procured by a specification and different firms must be allowed to bid competitively on them. If you are not an expert, bidding for software can be frustrating. And if your specifications were not adequate, the implementation of the software can be even more frustrating. The software can be a challenge to implement even with well-written specifications since they tend to be tailored to suit the needs of each agency. Compared with consumer software that has a large user base and has been developed for decades, software for transit has a much smaller audience and less development history. Agencies should consult other agencies for experience and specifications before procuring new software.
A lot of vendors provide options that incorporate several software solutions at once. Several aspects of operations and planning for transit services will be incorporated into one procurement in these modules. This will increase the price. These integrated modules often include software that handles dispatching, scheduling for service, work, and paratransit, maintenance of fleets, and management of fares, among other things.