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Choosing the setup that is best for your agency

Many vendors offer “one size fits all” solutions for real-time. The problem is that not only is there no solution that is universally best for all agencies, but you can end up locked into a multi-year contract with a vendor regardless of how technology changes, paying for features you don’t actually use.

Although it may seem daunting at first that there is no one “correct” or “best” setup for OneBusAway, it means that you can get the best solution for your agency, with the freedom and flexibility to change at any time.

Self-Hosting

If your agency has an on-staff I.T. department or technical team, it may make sense for your agency to host and maintain OneBusAway. Have a technical lead look over the deployment materials, and they can advise you on whether you have the capabilities to host in-house. They may also be able to easily set up and run a test server so you can see it for yourself.

Contract with a OneBusAway Vendor

For agencies with limited technical capacity, this option may make the most sense. There are multiple vendors with experience hosting and maintaining OneBusAway for agencies of different sizes and budgets. We maintain a spreadsheet of firms that are interested in providing OneBusAway as a service (SaaS). If you would like help deciding on a contractor, we recommend getting in touch with the agencies in our deployments list, and asking about their experiences.

If you need help writing an RFP for OneBusAway hosting, you can read some of our recommendations for RFPs or contact us directly.

OneBusAway Cloud

In 2025, the Open Transit Software Foundation launched OneBusAway Cloud, an easy-to-use platform that offers ‘one-click’ setup of OneBusAway with transparent, all-inclusive pricing. Visit the OneBusAway Cloud website to learn more about this offering.