Case Study: Metropolitan Transit Authority achieves real-time SMS bus arrival tracking for millions with Upland Software

Metropolitan Transit Authority - Customer Case Study

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) needed a way to inform millions of daily bus riders of real-time arrival information across 300 routes serving 2.6 million customers. Posted schedules often proved unreliable due to traffic and weather, and many commuters lacked smartphones or mobile data, leaving riders uncertain about wait times and travel plans.

MTA's Bus Time, developed with Upland Mobile Messaging, lets anyone text a bus stop code or nearby cross streets to receive GPS-based locations and direction of the next bus. The service handled over 13 million text requests in 2013, reached nearly a quarter of daily riders within six months, generated far more text than web queries, and has expanded to 15,000 stops on 5,500 buses—making bus travel more reliable and accessible citywide.

Metropolitan Transit Authority

Joseph J. Lhota

Chairman