VIA Via Transportation, Inc. Class A Common Stock

Via Transportation, Inc. is an American technology company that provides software as a service (SaaS) and operations to improve public transportation networks for cities, transit agencies, schools and universities, healthcare providers, and corporations around the world. Via offers fully managed transit services as well as transportation planning tools, consulting services, operational support, and navigation.

Founded in 2012, Via is headquartered in New York City with offices around the world. As of March 2024, Via serves more than 700 global partners such as King County Metro in Seattle, Transport for London, Transport for New South Wales in Australia, and Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe in Germany.

Via focuses on making transportation more equitable and accessible for all populations including paratransit riders, school-aged children, elderly populations, and low income riders.

History

Founding and early years

Daniel Ramot and Oren Shoval co-founded Via in 2012. The company began as a ridesharing service on New York's Upper East Side before expanding citywide. Via used dynamic routing to group riders more efficiently, matching each rider with passengers heading in the same direction, and directing riders to virtual bus stops to meet their ride. Eventually the consumer business expanded to Washington D.C., Chicago, London, and Amsterdam.

In 2017, the company began offering its software and operational support to municipalities and transit agencies. Partners could buy Via’s software to use as their own white labeled transportation service, or they could have Via handle operations as well, including vehicle fleets, drivers, and on-the-ground management and support staff.

In October 2020, Via acquired Fleetonomy, an Israeli startup and logistics company.

After its expansion into a broader transit-tech company, Via continued to grow through acquisitions. In 2021, through its Remix acquisition, Via expanded into city mapping and transportation planning.

In 2023, Via acquired Citymapper, a journey-planning app with more than 50 million users in more than 400 cities. Via and Citymapper have worked with municipal governments and transit agencies to adapt the app to fit local needs, with city branding, disruption messaging, and in the case of the 2024 Paris Olympics, specialized routing for event management.

Service highlights

Fort Worth, Texas

In July 2019, Trinity Metro and Via launched microtransit service ZIPZONE to allow easier access to commerce hubs and other transit. It marked Via’s third service in the state. The service started with one on-demand zone, and expanded to 3 additional on-demand zones operated by Via and 1 SaaS zone operated by Trinity Metro by June 2022 — all powered by Via’s platform and rider app.

Germany

Via operates more than 40 services throughout the country.

In 2021, Region Hannover in Hannover, Germany, contracted with Via to launch Sprinti. As of 2023, Sprinti serves more than 360,000 residents and received the German Mobility Award in December 2023.

In September 2022, Via and Berlin’s public transport company launched BVG Muva to create better connectivity to the wider BVG transit network, and provide equitable mobility access for marginalized communities. Consequently, the service gave riders with disabilities access to subway stations that were not wheelchair accessible. In its initial phase, BVG Muva was only available for select subway and train lines. As of 2024, it is available citywide at non-barrier-free stations.

In November 2023, Via announced new partnerships with public transport companies in Germany to take over the operations of 10 on-demand public transport services formerly operated by CleverShuttle.

London, UK

Via partnered with Transport for London to provide software and operations for demand-responsive buses in Sutton, London. Originally a 1-year partnership, Via received a 3-year license renewal after the program resulted in 7+ million rides in London since launching, saving 3 million vehicle kilometers by pooling multiple passengers into shared vehicles, and more than 600,000 kilograms of CO2 saved.

Miami Dade County

MetroConnect (formerly GO Connect) is Miami’s answer to limited access to transit, medical centers & universities, and parking challenges at Metrorail stations. Via and Miami-Dade County initially designed a turnkey microtransit service to complement and enhance their fixed-route network. As the service hit ridership benchmarks, the county expanded its reach by extending zone hours and upgrading to a multi-modal app that provides public transit options at any given time.

Seattle, Washington

In April 2019, Via worked with King County Metro, transit authority of the City of Seattle, and Sound Transit to provide last mile transportation to five Sound Transit Link light rail stations. In 2023, Via took over operations and software for all of the agency’s on-demand transit services.

Summit, Utah

In July 2021, Summit County partnered with Via Strategies to develop a plan to create High Valley Transit using Remix software. The newly designed network included bus service paired with on-demand transit to increase coverage.

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

The first time Via took over operations for an entire transit network. As the city’s sole transit provider, Via worked with Sioux Area Metro (SAM) to implement a whole network approach. The first step expanded microtransit service SAM On Demand to unreached areas and extended zone hours in other parts of the city—with enhanced ride booking through an app that showed riders all available public transit options. In April 2024, the next phase of the plan focused on consolidating and updating the fixed bus routes.

Wales, UK

Via and Transport for Wales, the Welsh government’s transit authority, launched a demand-responsive service called fflecsi in May 2020. The program enabled transport coordination between local councils across multiple urban, rural and suburban areas. The service was successful in encouraging riders to use public transport, despite generally declining public transport usage in Wales.

Transportation services

Demand-responsive transit (DRT)

Demand-responsive transit is a form of shared public transport for groups traveling where vehicles alter their routes each journey based on particular transport demand, without using a fixed route or timetabled journeys.

Microtransit

Microtransit is tech-enabled shared transportation where routing algorithms use real-time, on-the-ground information to group passengers into shared rides. Routes are dynamic; “schedules” shift based on rider demand; and vehicles range in size from vans to shuttles, or buses, depending on what’s needed for the system.

Paratransit

Paratransit is accessible, door-to-door transportation for people with disabilities, typically delivered by vans or minibuses. In the United States, the ADA mandates that paratransit is offered within ¾ miles of any fixed-route bus line or train station. Via’s paratransit software can improve paratransit for both riders and operators by increasing on-time performance, reducing reliance on manual scheduling, and lowering overall cost-per-trip.

Transit consulting

Via has an in-house consulting practice, Via Strategies, that specializes in transit planning for tech-enabled and multimodal transit networks. Via Strategies works with city governments, transit agencies, state departments of transportation, and other transit clients on bus network redesigns, feasibility studies, and microtransit planning.

Corporate, health, and student transportation

Using microtransit technology, Via operates student and employee shuttles at universities and on corporate campuses around the world. Clients include Harvard University, Northwestern University, LinkedIn, Google, and BASF.

Via created a fully integrated and customizable software suite for student transportation, with route planning, a central operations console for administrators, and applications for caregivers, drivers, and educators. The software includes features like real-time bus tracking, continuously updated ETAs, and configurable alerts to help track users.

Via’s software supports non-emergency medical transportation, often with the same fleet of vehicles already in use for paratransit or microtransit services. Clients are transit agencies, city governments, and hospital systems.

Vehicles

Via operates a vehicle-agnostic platform so its technology can work with any type of vehicle fleet, from cars and minivans to shuttle buses, cutaways, large city buses, and school buses. Via services frequently include wheelchair accessible vehicles, electric vehicles, and autonomous vehicles. In partnership with May Mobility, Via has operated AV public transit services in cities such as Arlington, Texas, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and Miami, Florida.

Financing

In May 2016, the company raised $100 million in Series C financing.

In November 2021, Via raised $130 million in a Series G round of financing at a $3.3 billion valuation. Investors included Janus Henderson, BlackRock, ION, and Koch Disruptive Technologies.

In February 2023, the company raised $110 million at a $3.5 billion valuation. Investors included 83North, Exor N.V., Pitango, Janus Henderson, CF Private Equity, Planven Entrepreneur Ventures, Riverpark Ventures, and ION Crossover Partners.

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