Moovit: The Biggest Crowdsourced Public Transportation App That Will Help You Get Around

Wouldn’t it be nice to know your bus was going to be ten minutes late so you could wait inside instead of standing in the rain? With the Moovit app, you can keep tabs on your transportation. RewardExpert had the opportunity to speak with Steve Swasey, Moovit vice president and head of global communications, about how it works.

It’s All About the Numbers

Moovit is the number one transit app worldwide. It covers more than 1,500 cities in 78 countries, and is available in 43 languages. They currently have 80 million users, and are adding nearly two million new ones each month. A new city is added every 15 hours.

“It’s just like Wikipedia in that it is crowdsourced information that is sent in and verified and published. Moovit information is sent in by thousands of local editors and the benefit is better access to public transit in so many markets all around the world,” said Swasey.

There are three main reasons why Moovit ranks as the top transit app, according to Swasey.

• Shared ubiquity – no other transit app has as many cities, languages and users
• Accuracy – the data offers more precise data than Google or Apple Maps
• Real time updates – Moovit is live 24/7 and has some information that no one else has

How it all Began

With 80 million users worldwide, it’s hard to believe that the company has only been in existence for five years. “Our goal in the next four to five years is to have a billion users,” said Swasey. Moovit was started from a personal need, he explained.

“One of our founders, Roy Bick, was frustrated with the transit data in Tel Aviv, Israel. He was tired of waiting for buses that didn’t come so he manually plotted all the bus stops.” From there, Bick, along with Nir Erez, the company’s current CEO and Yaron Evron built an application and in turn, helped improve the transit grid in the city.

Moovit has built an extremely advanced technical tool that Swasey says his team calls the editor. “We have more than 200,000 local editors around the world who do just what Roy did – they plot the bus stops and transit information on the lines in their cities using the Moovit local editor. Then we build a city and launch the service in that city using the information.”

Moovit’s Benefits

Moovit is an extremely useful app for commuters, travelers and just about anyone who is looking for the best way to get from Point A to Point B. Swasey explained that the app is simple and intuitive as it takes you where you want to go in the best way possible. “We give you the most updated, accurate information with all the different routes you can take. You might be able to travel on a route that is faster, but it might cost a little more money. When you have real accuracy, you can make smarter and more informed decisions. To save money, we literally plot out all the routes that are available to you.”

With Moovit, maps are a thing of the past. Business Insider named it one of the best apps for travelers in 2017 and Google Play called it the Best Local App of 2016. Swasey said, “It’s really a goose bump moment when you think about this global app that’s helping people at a hyperlocal level because of the hyperlocal input that’s been given by local people. Moovit has the world’s largest repository of transit data and we look to be the transit operating system of the new urban mobility – how cities are going to manage their traffic, transit and people flow, reducing strain on highways, roads, etc. We’re helping to create more efficient, effective mass transit.”

A Simple Download

By downloading the free Moovit app, you can reduce stress when commuting or traveling. “We want consumers to find it simple to use, reliable and a must-have app,” stated Swasey. Moovit doesn’t collect any personal information other than a user’s location.

“Moovit collects half a billion data points a day from our users and we use that information and make it available to cities, transit authorities and governments. We actually license that data so they can improve their transit grid.” It’s a win-win for both the riders and the transit systems they use.