Reimagining Mobility: Smart ITS Innovations Shaping the Future of Public Transit

In today’s fast-moving, hyper-connected global economy, technology providers face a critical choice: Build their solutions in isolation or co-create with their customers. As markets evolve rapidly and user needs vary across geographies, the ability to listen, learn, and adapt,  both globally and within local contexts, is no longer a luxury, it’s a competitive necessity.  

When companies develop their product roadmap based on real-world input from a diverse global customer base, they not only stay ahead of emerging challenges, but also unlock innovations that reflect a broader spectrum of needs and contexts. Failing to do so risks developing solutions that are misaligned with how people operate, resulting in limited adoption, missed opportunities, and slow response to change. In contrast, companies that embed customer voices into their strategy can deliver more relevant, scalable, and future-ready products that drive meaningful impact across industries and regions.  

At Trapeze, innovation isn’t just a buzzword, it represents a long-term commitment to our customers. Establishing a highly collaborative partnership with us when you invest in our Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) will ensure the solution that is deployed will evolve with your business, continuously move forward with new innovations, remain consistently aligned with industry trends, quickly respond to your operational realities and requirements, and be focused on delivering successful outcomes for your business.  

Our local teams on the ground will work with you to understand your specific requirements and collaborate with our global product teams to ensure these operational needs are built into our roadmaps, benefiting both you and all our customers. 

As such, our global customers all receive the same product updates, features, and latest developments, meaning they benefit from the latest innovations and best practices of public transport authorities and operators worldwide. 

Forging Trusted Partnerships to Shape the Future of ITS 

At the heart of our approach is a commitment to long-term collaboration with our customers. We don’t just deliver systems, we work closely with you to become to become a trusted partner that is fully invested in the success and future direction of your ITS strategy. 

By working closely together, we gain a deep understanding of your operational priorities, evolving challenges, and long-term goals. These insights allow us to continuously adapt and enhance our solutions, ensuring they remain aligned with your needs, not only today, but well into the future.  

As new technologies emerge, such as artificial intelligence (AI) driven tools, we integrate them thoughtfully to support smarter, more responsive systems. This partnership-based model ensures that each new iteration of your ITS solution is both innovative and practical, built on a foundation of shared knowledge and mutual trust.  

The result: Solutions that evolve with you, seamlessly and without disruption.

Strategic Innovation With Your Future in Mind 

Partnering with Trapeze means aligning with a solutions provider who consistently invests in your future. We don’t just react to market trends – we anticipate them and build them into our product roadmap. 

 The foundation of our innovation roadmap for the solution is built on: 

	Customer & Market Insights – Our product direction is directly informed by our customers’ feedback, evolving standards from organisations like the Information Technology for Public Transport Association (ITxPT), industry trends and market insights and next-gen technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning.
	Emerging Technology Integration – Our platform evolves in lockstep as and when your operational needs shift, such as adopting Electrical and Hydrogen buses.
	Open Standards, Long-Term Compatibility – We embrace a variety of open standards, including Verband Deutscher Verkehrsunternehmen (VDV), Network Timetable Exchange (NeTEx), Service Interface for Real-time Information (SIRI), and ITxPT. This ensures smooth integration and long-term interoperability, streamlining integration processes and costing, and lowering the risk of switching providers.

Our Latest Next-Generation Innovations for Real-World Use

In response to recent market trends and valuable customer feedback, we have developed a range of innovations that directly address evolving needs. Here are just a few of the powerful features we are delivering to customers around the world.

Modern Web Interfaces Tailored for Real-World Environments

Your operational teams will directly benefit from our recently updated and continually evolving user interfaces, designed with frontline realities in mind. We have developed modern, intuitive web interfaces and an updated interactive system for all our key applications and modules, ensuring ease of use and efficiency.

This move to a web-enabled environment will ensure users can follow global trends and easily utilise strategies and innovative technologies, such as bring-your-own-device, remote work, and hyper-immersive interfaces. It also gives users the ability to choose where and when they can work, using their preferred device, and without the need to install any new, additional applications.

Hardware Flexibility – With the Right Integration Partner 

As ITxPT standards evolve, Trapeze has expanded its support of non-proprietary hardware. This strategy empowers operators to choose their preferred hardware solution, all while maintaining openness, enabling flexibility, and reinforcing cost efficiency. The real value, however, comes from partnering with a provider who can ensure seamless integration across all systems.

Our extensive experience with various hardware ecosystems also enables the rapid deployment of systems that remain cohesive and high performing, even as various technologies and related components continue to evolve.

Proprietary Hardware Vs Non-Proprietary – A Comparison

The rollout of these non-proprietary devices using ITxPT has been successfully implemented in cities, such as Abidjan, in Côte d’Ivoire. 

Machine Learning and AI Enhancements  

For over 30 years, Trapeze has been a leader in AI and ML development and predictive algorithms for public transportation. As is, our advanced systems power a wide range of features including vehicle arrival predictions, traffic congestion detection, and many other innovative ML powered features.

Building on this extensive experience and some of the world’s most innovative ML algorithms, we have adopted these next-generation technologies into our applications to help dispatchers detect and deal with disruptions early. This makes it easier for them to continuously provide a reliable service on the day-of-operation and directly enhance the passenger experience.

As we continue to harness the growing power of AI, some of the new functionalities being rolled out to clients include:

• Traffic Condition Monitoring

  Detecting delays and traffic bottlenecks is essential to the smooth operation of public transport systems. Integration with third-party traffic and mapping systems, like Google Maps and Apple Maps, allows the LIO Control Centre to not only display current traffic conditions, but also automatically identify upcoming issues proactively.

  This new tool, when combined with our existing traffic jam detection algorithms, provides dispatchers with a powerful weapon for detecting and addressing delays.

• Demand Forecasting and Ridership Predictions

  Passenger demand forecasting and monitoring are essential to maximising revenue and decreasing costs. To address this need, the LIO Control Centre is currently training new ML models that can help predict passenger volumes by time, location, and events based off historic and current demand trends.

  Integration with ticketing systems and passenger counters allow these systems to actively monitor demand in the LIO Control Centre client. This automatically creates new alerts and route updates based on high or low demand thresholds and current timetables.These insights enable dispatchers to bring additional vehicles into operation to meet high-demand periods and prepare for reduced deployment when there is low demand. When effectively used, these insights allow operators to maximise their revenue and reduce operational costs.

• Geographic Information Systems (GIS) & Diversion Automation

  The new spontaneous diversions module in the LIO Control Centre GIS allows for the drag-and-drop creation of the most effective re-routes when incidents occur that require buses to be diverted. When implemented, the system automatically creates turn-by-turn navigation with instructions for drivers and allows dispatchers to deploy the new routing plan to affected vehicles automatically.

  This enables faster creation of diversion routes that are clear for drivers to follow and straightforward to implement. It also reduces passenger disruptions, improves reliability, and helps make on-time performance more achievable.

• Smart Monitoring of Electric Vehicles and Hydrogen Buses
  
  Deep integration with vehicles’ fuel cells and battery systems, charging management systems, fuel systems, and open protocols, like VDV 463, has allowed new ML algorithms to be developed, specifically for managing new generations of electric and hydrogen buses.These algorithms automatically predict range and plan opportunity-based charging by factoring in weather, traffic conditions, current and forecasted temperatures, and passenger load levels. This will reduce drivers’ range anxiety and keep buses running without fail.

  With these functions, dispatchers can monitor vehicles in the LIO Control Centre, use AI-powered systems to track the state of charge or fuel level of their buses, and even compare the predicted range for planned operations with current road and route conditions.

  The AI system then automatically provides dispatchers with new charging and refuelling plans. When ready for engagement, they can deploy the new plan to the affected vehicle.

Notably, all these functions can be carried out remotely, reducing the need to return vehicles to depots. This helps lower dead kilometres and reduce operational costs. At the same time, it enables operators to achieve their Zero-Emission Fleet plans quickly and more effectively.

Getting the Most from Close Collaboration with Trapeze

We believe loyalty from our clients is earned through consistently providing value, creating highly engaging collaborations with them, and working with a mindset that focuses on delivering shared success.

Our most successful customers are those who partner with us for the long-term.

This is why we work closely with our customers to conduct regular system utilisation reviews, ensuring that we better understand the direction and innovations you need to enhance your bus network. These insights are also relayed back to the teams developing our product roadmap. We want to ensure that you and your operations are getting the most out of the Trapeze solutions that have been deployed.

The future of ITS will be shaped by those who listen, adapt, and build with intention.

Partnering for progress means more than collaboration, it’s about developing solutions that drive your business forward. By aligning innovation with real-world needs, we are creating a roadmap that not only addresses today’s challenges but also anticipates tomorrow’s opportunities. Let’s shape the future of ITS together.

Should you wish to conduct a system utilisation review or discuss the developments you need for your operations, please contact Maretha Britz, Trapeze Africa Managing Director, to discover more and learn how we can help transform your business operations through ITS.