LA Metro Moved Nearly 200,000 Riders During a Mega-Event Shuttle with Spare
We're able to collect all of the operating data, the ridership information, the bus usage, miles and hours, and so forth, the various incidents that happen, so that we can have a robust after-action evaluation of the entire program. I don't think any other software vendors out there have a fully integrated platform like Spare delivered to us.
When Los Angeles hosted one of the world's largest sporting events, LA Metro faced a problem that couldn't be solved by adding more buses. Roughly 30,000 parking spaces at SoFi Stadium went offline for tournament operations, and the region needed a way to move hundreds of thousands of fans without gridlocking the roads around the venue.
“For the World Cup, we really wanted to make sure that we were there every step of the way in your entire journey and also throw in some excitement as well. We wanted to make sure that we were able to support our customers from the minute they decided to come to LA to go to the World Cup, through the World Cup and all the way back home.” - Conan Cheung, COO, LA Metro
LA Metro's answer was a large-scale park-and-ride shuttle network, connecting remote lots across Los Angeles to SoFi Stadium on match days. The service brought together LA Metro, regional transit agencies, municipal operators, and charter providers into one coordinated operation. By the end of the tournament, it spanned approximately 300 vehicles across 13 shuttle routes.
“It's a tremendous undertaking. And it required a lot of coordination, not just within LA Metro, but with all of our regional partners. We realized that we need to go above and beyond what our existing network could cover.” - Sharon Gookin, Deputy CEO, LA Metro
Too many systems not enough coordination
Before Spare, LA Metro ran event shuttles for venues like Dodger Stadium and limited SoFi service, but those typically involved only one or two routes. This project was on a different scale entirely.
The agency's existing tools weren't built for it. ORBCAD and CAD-AVL handled operations, Swiftly managed real-time information and service adjustments, and each agency kept its own static GTFS feeds. Scheduling ran through Hastus, separately from everything else. Every update meant coordinating across systems that weren't designed to talk to each other.
That fragmentation showed up everywhere. Multiple agencies and charter providers ran different CAD-AVL systems. Routes, schedules, GTFS, and real-time feeds all lived in separate places. Setting up temporary routes took significant manual effort, and getting lightweight onboard devices into vehicles quickly was its own challenge. Scaling to hundreds of vehicles for a short-term event only added to the complexity.
LA Metro needed one system that could configure routes, manage real-time operations, and give drivers and dispatchers a consistent experience across a blended fleet.
One unified platform for a regional shuttle network
Building on the success of LA Metro Micro, which already ran on Spare, LA Metro extended the platform to power the World Cup shuttle network. Using Spare Fixed Route and Spare Engine, the agency configured routes, schedules, and GTFS from a single platform, deployed tablet-based driver apps without installing permanent hardware, and adjusted service on the fly as conditions changed throughout the tournament.
“With the Spare software, we've basically been able to track our buses, see where they are, see where shortfalls are. If there has been a reassignment, we're able to give routing instructions. We're able to do the planning and scheduling. We're able to communicate with the drivers directly through the Spare platform, make live adjustments that will then update the driver's navigation on the fly.” - Dilraj Thandi, Bus Operations Control Director, LA Metro
Dispatchers could see live vehicle markers to confirm drivers had logged in before service started, and they monitored all 300 vehicles in real time from one view. When something needed to change mid-shift, dispatch-to-dispatch messaging, by voice or text, kept everyone on the same page.
Push to talk kept 300 drivers, 20 dispatchers, and 30 supervisors connected across the entire operation. Drivers and dispatchers used a dedicated channel for routine requests. A priority channel lets operators flag urgent messages and jump the queue. And a system-wide broadcast channel pushed updates to every operator across every agency and partner at once.
“We're able to collect all of the operating data, the ridership information, the bus usage, miles and hours, and so forth, the various incidents that happen, so that we can have a robust after-action evaluation of the entire program. I don't think any other software vendors out there have a fully integrated platform like Spare delivered to us.” - Dilraj Thandi, Bus Operations Control Director, LA Metro
Nearly 200,000 riders later
The results spoke for themselves. LA Metro transported nearly 200,000 riders across the tournament, including roughly 29,000 passengers during Game 7 alone and more than 24,000 on the final match day.
Multiple independent transit agencies, municipal operators, and charter providers operated under one shared platform while maintaining service across the region. Every participating agency had a shared view of service, and dispatchers had the operational insight to manage one of North America's largest temporary transit networks in real time.
A playbook for what's next
What started as a temporary shuttle network for a single tournament became something bigger. A proven operating model for coordinating hundreds of vehicles, multiple agencies, and complex temporary service through one platform.
The deployment showed that large-scale event transportation isn't just about deploying more buses. It's about giving every operator, dispatcher, and agency the tools to function as one coordinated network. With this operation as a blueprint, LA Metro is now positioned to bring the same model to the Olympics and future major events.