Case Study: Blacksburg Transit achieves 22% ridership growth and 90% on-time performance with TripSpark

Big Data Has Big Payoffs for This APTA-award Winning Transit Agency

Blacksburg Transit (BT), a university-focused system serving the Town of Blacksburg and Virginia Tech, faced the challenge of managing highly dynamic, student-driven ridership and delivering accurate, real-time information. As an early TripSpark Streets and MDT customer that also developed its own passenger app and GTFS tools, BT needed granular access to data—beyond canned reports—to analyze stop-level trends, schedule adherence, and day-by-day variations so it could make timely operational and planning decisions.

Using TripSpark’s platform with full access to raw data (about 11,000 data points/day) and in-house analytics, BT implemented real-time maps, a texting service and app-based information to adjust headways, consolidate stops, and address customer complaints with evidence. The results: a 22% increase in ridership and revenue service hours (2016–2018), 90% on-time performance, 43 passengers per revenue hour (nearly three times the national average for similar systems), a dramatic shift to digital customer contacts (≈2,500 texts/day), and recognition as APTA’s 2019 Outstanding Transit System.

Blacksburg Transit

Tim Witten

ITS and Special Projects Manager