Case Study: Bubble Dan achieves reduced congestion and expanded transit access with Via

The Largest Subsidized on-demand Public Transit Pilot in the World

Bubble Dan, a subsidized on‑demand public transit pilot launched in Tel Aviv by Dan Transportation and Israel’s Ministries of Finance and Transportation, needed a first‑and‑last‑mile solution to reduce private car use and relieve road congestion across a 40 km² zone. Via was selected to provide its on‑demand transit platform—customized routing algorithms, mobile apps and a virtual bus‑stop model—to power the bubble Dan service.

Via implemented its technology and operations for Bubble Dan, scaling the fleet from 40 to about 100 vehicles (110 including reserve) and enabling app‑booked shared rides with seamless pickups. The service hit 1,000 rides in its first 34 hours, returned to nearly 5,000 rides per day (pre‑COVID volumes), and surpassed 1,000,000 rides by Q3 2020; operators and riders report people abandoning cars for bubble Dan, expanded city and hospital coverage during COVID waves, and measurable improvements in transit access and congestion relief.

Bubble Dan

Itai Rogatka

General Manager