tldr: Ontra helps cities and transit agencies increase ridership through data-driven planning and real-time optimization.

🚀 Introduction

Hey everyone! We’re Anthony and Connor, aka the Ontra Mobility team, and we’re revolutionizing how people move.

❗ The Problem

Transit agencies in the U.S. are facing massive budget shortfalls (up to $3B). Agencies need to adapt their transit systems more quickly to meet the demands of our evolving cities. Work from home led to a large drop in ridership, which is problematic for train and bus routes, which have high fixed costs. Cutting lines or reducing frequency further impacts ridership - transit agencies need a different solution.

💡 The Solution

Ontra helps cities and other transit agencies increase ridership through data-driven planning and real-time optimization. Our platform optimizes cost and rider experience by designing high-frequency bus routes and ridesharing zones, where our algorithms adapt routes to demand in real time.

⚙️ How It Works

Ontra analyzes information about where people live, how they've traveled in the past, and the existing transit system to figure out the best way to redesign the transit network.

Once the improvements are made, Ontra Mobility plans rider journeys in real-time with the best combination of transit options available, whether it’s a train, bus, bike, or agency-operated on-demand. Our system can handle thousands of ridesharing requests per minute – efficiently assigning riders to optimal routes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-RyHtEurVk

🚌 What’s New

• Our transit network design application generates bus routes and micro-transit zones
• Seamless multimodal journeys – our algorithm synchronizes transfers between on-demand and fixed-route

🎓 The Team

Anthony and Connor are both former Google engineers with PhDs in operations research. Prior to joining YC, they worked on MARTA Reach in Atlanta, GA, and CAT Smart in Savannah, GA.

🙏 Ask: How you can help

• Share this post and spread the word!

• Connect us to private- or public- transit agency employees or board members, politicians, and transit advocates. founders@ontramobility.com

  Quick blurb to copy and paste: Ontra Mobility is founded by two former Google engineers with PhDs in operations research. Ontra helps cities and other transit agencies increase ridership through data-driven planning and real-time optimization. The founders developed the software that powered MARTA Reach in Atlanta, GA and CAT Smart in Savannah, GA.