Four of South Florida’s transit providers have come together to launch a new tool aimed at simplifying regional travel.
Broward County Transit, Miami-Dade Transit, Palm Tran and Tri-Rail partnered under the leadership of the federal Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) to create SoFloGO, a regional mobility app. Powered by Moovit’s trip-planning technology and Genfare’s payment system, the app went live Aug. 11 and is designed to make riding across county lines easier.
Funded through federal dollars administered by the MPO, SoFloGO combines live data feeds from Broward County Transit, Miami-Dade Transit, Palm Tran and Tri-Rail, giving riders real-time information in one place from across the region’s major systems. The app also handles fare payments in a way that directs revenue back to the correct agency while allowing riders to pay through a single system. In addition to trip planning and payments, SoFloGO includes a built-in feedback feature so officials can hear directly from riders and use that input to guide future updates.
That focus on ease of use extends beyond daily commuters. As Broward County Transit CEO and General Manager Coree Cuff Lonergan said, the app was also designed with visitors in mind — particularly those flying into South Florida’s major airports.
“We were intentional in making sure that it’s easy to navigate and that anybody who is traveling to our area would be able to figure it out,” she said. “And as you can imagine, a lot of people that come to South Florida may be coming from cities that have advanced public transportation systems. That’s what they’re used to, and that’s what they expect when they get here as well.”
Broward County Transit is in the midst of a major expansion, Lonergan said, adding 200 miles of new service and diversifying beyond buses and paratransit to include light rail, bus rapid transit, commuter rail and high-frequency bus routes. Its $4.3 billion plan is supported by a local penny sales surtax as well as federal and state funding. A key part of the expansion’s success will be connecting with riders, and the SoFloGO app is providing a foundation for that plan.
The idea for a unified transit app isn’t new, however, according to Lonergan. And from a technical standpoint, the agencies spent months testing data integration to make sure that the functionality behind the scenes was working.
“This has been an initiative that’s been in the works for about 10 years,” Lonergan said. She noted that technical limitations and the difficulty of integrating different systems slowed progress. But as technology matured, agencies were able to push forward.
What that required, according to the CEO, was “a full-on commitment from all the leaders of these respective agencies to push it through across the finish line.” But the collaboration across jurisdictions wasn’t just about overcoming technical hurdles — it reflected the same shared vision that now powers SoFloGO itself: a unified effort to make South Florida’s transit systems work together for the people who rely on them.
Building on that mission, Lonergan said the agencies want to keep their options open for future enhancements. While new features like ride-share integration or predictive routing are not currently on their road map, their established partnerships across jurisdictions have opened the door for the app to evolve as rider needs and technology continue to grow.
“We always remain open to future expansion of this app, but right now we don’t have any plans to do anything in the moment,” she said. “We’re just relishing in the fact that it’s live and it’s being adopted by so many.” According to Lonergan, the app has been downloaded over 4,000 times since it was launched.
But that early success is only part of the story because ultimately, Lonergan said, the app is less about software and more about how transit agencies work together. As she put it: “This is a regional initiative and it’s moving us away from operating as independent entities and moving towards collaboration.”
