About Transit: Making urban car ownership unnecessary

Transit is a mobility platform founded in 2012 with a mission to make car ownership in cities unnecessary. The app allows users to plan and pay for urban mobility across multiple modes, including bike-share, scooter, ride-hail, micro transit, and public transit. Transit has grown to support more than 200 regions globally and partners with numerous public transit agencies across North America. The company’s engineering team focuses on providing seamless, integrated experiences that simplify the use of urban mobility services for commuters.

The Problem: Solving repetitive data entry friction

As Transit expanded its integrations with multiple transit services, the company faced significant operational and technical challenges. Users were required to enter personal, billing, and payment information repeatedly when signing up for new services or purchasing passes. This created friction, frustrated users, and limited adoption.

Additionally, Transit needed to handle sensitive payment data securely while complying with PCI standards. Managing encryption, account data, and partner integrations across a growing network of services created both scalability and compliance challenges. The company also needed a platform capable of supporting flexible partner requirements, from providing encrypted card information to integrating with third-party gateways like Stripe.

The Solution: Powering unified accounts with orchestration

Transit developed Transit accounts as a unified solution to streamline payments and account management across multiple urban mobility services. Using a combination of advanced encryption, tokenization, and secure storage, Transit accounts store user credentials and payment information securely while enabling one-click sign-ups and purchases across partner services.

Spreedly’s payments orchestration platform plays a critical role in this solution. Transit uses Spreedly to tokenize credit card data, store it in a secure vault, and provide tokens for processing payments with partners. Depending on the partner’s requirements, Spreedly can either deliver tokenized payment information, encrypted card data using a partner’s public key, or connect through a restricted-use Stripe gateway to create customer and card records. This approach allows Transit to meet diverse partner needs while keeping sensitive data protected.

Transit’s technology stack leverages function-as-a-service cloud computing to scale automatically during peak usage periods, reducing infrastructure overhead. The company also uses a modular, reusable design for front-end flows, ensuring that updates and new partner integrations can be deployed quickly without requiring app updates. TypeScript and MobX help manage complex state and integration logic, improving developer efficiency and reducing the potential for bugs.

The Results: Seamless multi-modal mobility and scale

The implementation of Transit accounts, powered by Spreedly, significantly reduced friction for users signing up for and paying across multiple urban mobility services. Users no longer need to repeatedly enter personal and payment information, enabling faster adoption and a more seamless experience.

From a technical perspective, Transit achieved greater scalability and compliance with PCI standards while managing diverse partner requirements. The use of Spreedly’s orchestration and vaulting infrastructure allowed Transit to handle sensitive payment data securely and flexibly, supporting both one-time and recurring transactions.

This approach has positioned Transit as a leader in integrated urban mobility payments, enabling the company to continue expanding its reach while maintaining a secure, reliable, and user-friendly platform. Developers and partners benefit from a modular system that simplifies onboarding, supports rapid deployment, and allows flexible account and payment management for end users.