Behind Spare’s reliable platform—how we build stability for transit agencies

How modern microtransit and paratransit software keeps service running smoothly
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Transit agencies operate in a world where reliability is a necessity. Every delayed trip, every unexpected disruption, creates operational stress and erodes rider trust. Behind the scenes, technology plays a critical role in making sure trips run on schedule, dispatchers stay ahead of demand, and agencies can scale without system failures. But not all transit platforms are built to keep up with real-world operational pressures.

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Spare has powered over 20 million rides globally, supporting transit agencies of all sizes with a platform designed for stability—whether handling daily operations or scaling to meet growing demand.
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How Spare keeps its platform stable and reliable

Here’s how we make sure transit agencies can deliver consistent, predictable service every day.

Multi-layered testing before every update

Every update Spare deploys is tested at multiple levels before it reaches agencies—preventing system failures and unexpected disruptions.

• Automated tests catch potential bugs before they go live.
• Manual QA verifies that changes won’t break daily operations.

This approach helps prevent issues after updates, so transit teams can focus on running service instead of fixing tech problems.

24/7 monitoring and rapid response

If something happens, we’re already on it. Spare’s real-time monitoring system detects potential issues before they affect riders or dispatchers.

• We roll out updates gradually to prevent widespread issues. Instead of pushing changes to everyone at once, we first deploy them to a small group of our servers. This way, if there’s a problem, we can catch and fix it before it affects most agencies.
• Automated alerts notify our engineering team within seconds of a detected issue.
• On-call response teams fix problems immediately—most within 10 minutes.
• Customer support makes sure agencies receive fast, transparent updates.

Our real-time monitoring system allows us to detect and resolve potential platform issues before they affect agencies. This is separate from our customer support response times, which measure how quickly we respond to direct support requests.

For customer support, our average response time from February 7, 2025 to March 6, 2025 was:

• 2 minutes, 24 seconds through chat
• 52 minutes, 13 seconds through email

Both proactive system monitoring and responsive customer support make sure agencies get the help they need—whether it’s preventing an issue before it happens or resolving a question quickly.

If you want to see the latest updates on your support metrics, take a look at our Support Status page.

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A transit software platform built to scale with your agency needs

Spare is built to handle high-capacity transit systems—whether managing a single agency with thousands of daily trips or supporting multiple large agencies at once.

‍In the last 30 days, more than 1,100 transit services operated on Spare—demonstrating the platform’s ability to support agencies of all sizes, from small fleets to large-scale transit systems.

• Small agencies can expand without hiring more dispatchers, thanks to automated scheduling.
• High-volume transit systems use Spare Engine and GO/GOLD to handle demand surges without slowdowns.

For example, GATRA—a transit agency serving 30 communities in southeastern Massachusetts—improved on-time performance to 97% using Spare. With a fleet of over 30 paratransit vehicles, that meant fewer late arrivals, smoother operations, and a better experience for riders.

Building trust through consistency

Reliable service is the foundation of public transit. Agencies need a platform they can trust to keep operations running smoothly, no matter the conditions.

That’s why Spare has invested in real-time monitoring, proactive support, and a scalable platform—so agencies can focus on service, not system issues.

Today, agencies of all sizes rely on Spare to power thousands of trips every day. Whether managing daily operations or planning for future growth, Spare provides the stability transit teams need to deliver reliable service to their riders.

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