Committee advances DDOT mobile-fare and real-time tracking contracts to formal review
April 20, 2026 | Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan
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The Detroit Department of Transportation’s technology contracts to support mobile ticketing and real-time vehicle tracking advanced from committee to the full council with recommendations to approve.
Director Robert Kramer described an amendment to the Token Transit contract (6004802) that adds $2,000,901 and reduces the renewal term to one year while the city installs new fareboxes. Kramer said the shorter extension provides flexibility because new farebox hardware will unlock additional stored-value and phone-payment features.
"This contract with Token Transit is what facilitates the mobile passes that people can use ... The contract period is for one more year," Kramer said.
On real-time tracking, Kramer described a proposed three-year contract (6007822) with Swiftly for $1,222,179 to replace DDOT’s current real-time feed and to improve prediction accuracy used by apps like Transit, Google Maps and Apple Maps. He said Swiftly can also give customer-service staff easier tools to publish rider alerts and to diagnose on-street problems.
Kramer said implementation should take about 30 days and promised the technology would allow better rider communications; the committee approved forwarding both items to new business with recommendations to approve.
The committee also discussed local vendor opportunities and data-collection questions; Kramer said personally identifying payment data is not stored by the contractor and suggested outreach to local tech partners when new farebox capabilities are in place.
Director Robert Kramer described an amendment to the Token Transit contract (6004802) that adds $2,000,901 and reduces the renewal term to one year while the city installs new fareboxes. Kramer said the shorter extension provides flexibility because new farebox hardware will unlock additional stored-value and phone-payment features.
"This contract with Token Transit is what facilitates the mobile passes that people can use ... The contract period is for one more year," Kramer said.
On real-time tracking, Kramer described a proposed three-year contract (6007822) with Swiftly for $1,222,179 to replace DDOT’s current real-time feed and to improve prediction accuracy used by apps like Transit, Google Maps and Apple Maps. He said Swiftly can also give customer-service staff easier tools to publish rider alerts and to diagnose on-street problems.
Kramer said implementation should take about 30 days and promised the technology would allow better rider communications; the committee approved forwarding both items to new business with recommendations to approve.
The committee also discussed local vendor opportunities and data-collection questions; Kramer said personally identifying payment data is not stored by the contractor and suggested outreach to local tech partners when new farebox capabilities are in place.
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