Optibus’ acquisition marks company’s growth into passenger information management systems and the opening of their Global Center for Open Transit Data.
Today, Optibus announced its acquisition of Trillium, a SaaS provider helping transit operators and agencies keep riders informed. Trillium will become Optibus’ Global Center for Data Excellence and operate as an Optibus subsidiary, integrating their market-leading expertise in public transportation data feeds and team of twenty-five data experts into Optibus, strengthening and diversifying Optibus’ mass transportation optimization capabilities and reinforcing the company’s global expansion strategy.
Mobile apps play a key role in transit passenger journeys. Every day, billions of people use their phones to discover transit options, plan journeys, and access real-time ETAs and service changes. When data is missing or inaccurate, riders go uninformed, directly impacting ridership levels and passenger experience. Uninformed riders perceive unexpected wait times as 3–5 times as burdensome as in-vehicle time, reducing the usefulness and appeal of public transportation.
Trillium’s Transit Alerts software (screen 1) enables targeted alerts to mobile applications and transit websites. In Screen 2, a trip itinerary in Google Maps shows a service schedule with real-time data and an alert, as delivered by Trillium.
Trillium’s championship of public transportation data, including General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS), improves passenger communication, allowing the industry to publish schedule and real-time service data in a format consumable by apps including Google Maps and Apple Maps. In their fourteen years of operation, Trillium has helped over 350 US transit agencies and operators, including the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Caltrain, Anaheim Resort Transportation, San Francisco Bay Ferry, Sonoma County Transit, DC Streetcar, and the Departments of Transportation (DoTs) in Massachusetts, Oregon, Colorado, and other US states, to improve passenger experience and communication.
“This new partnership between Trillium and Optibus, two innovative and customer-focused technology companies, is exciting for the transit industry. As a current Optibus client and long-time Trillium client, I’m convinced this combination will allow Marin Transit and other Optibus scheduling clients a more sophisticated and robust set of tools to manage and publish GTFS data for riders,” said Robert Betts, Director of Operations and Planning, Marin Transit.
The acquisition diversifies Optibus’ service offering to include Trillium’s data-centric products and services, including GTFS Manager, transit alerts, interactive maps, and transit websites. Optibus will begin to take a consultative approach to challenges that cannot be solved by software alone, but also need data aggregation and analysis.
“Our acquisition of Trillium accelerates Optibus towards its vision of an all-encompassing, end-to-end software platform for daily transportation operations. We are committed to realizing that vision through the development of cutting-edge technology alongside organic business developments and corporate development initiatives that enable us to work with industry leaders like Trillium,” said Amos Haggiag, CEO and co-founder of Optibus.
“Open data systems are what drives public transport forward,” said Aaron Antrim, founder and CEO of Trillium. “By joining Optibus, Trillium will integrate its data-centric offerings into an end-to-end software platform for public transportation operations, enabling us to continue offering excellent support and consultancy to transit agencies and state and federal DoT customers in North America.”
About Optibus
Optibus is an end-to-end, cloud-native solution for transportation planning, scheduling, rostering, and operations, powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and optimization algorithms. Transportation agencies and operators worldwide trust Optibus to increase efficiency and service quality, promote transportation equity, reduce emissions and costs, and modernize their operations. Learn more: www.optibus.com
About Trillium, An Optibus Company
Trillium is a leader in public transportation passenger information systems. Founded in 2007, the company built the first SaaS solution for General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) management, and nurtured GTFS as a global data standard. Today, Trillium’s products and services, including GTFS Manager, rider-focused websites, service alerts, interactive maps, and consultations, are used by more than 350 transit operators and state and federal agencies across the US and Canada to manage their data and seamlessly communicate service information to riders. Learn more: https://trilliumtransit.com/ and www.optibus.com
