Put safety in the driver’s seat: introducing the Via Safety Portal

For years, safety in the transit industry has felt like a one-way street that left drivers out of the loop on their employment. Drivers are monitored by dashcams and telematics, but the resulting data often lives in a "black box" accessible only to dispatchers and fleet managers. When a driver is flagged for a violation, it’s often days after the event, making it challenging to provide effective real-time feedback that builds trust and changes behavior.

That’s why we built the Safety Portal—a real-time, transparent dashboard that puts safety data directly into the hands of the people who need it most: the drivers.

Transparency as a catalyst for change

Historically, telematics data has been used for manual intervention after a risk is identified. The Safety Portal flips this script by giving drivers real-time visibility into their own performance trends. Via Driver Partners can log into their personalized safety portal to see exactly how they stack up against Via's rigorous safety standards

The portal focuses on two core dimensions of driver safety:

• Speed Score: Evaluating the percentage of driving time spent within safe limits.
• Focus Score: Measuring distracted driving events, such as holding a device while the vehicle is in motion.

These metrics are combined into an Overall Safety Score—a transparent rating that removes ambiguity in favor of fixed, fair penalties that drivers can understand and control.

Rewards: the power of gamification

Report cards have never been anyone’s favorite thing, so we wanted to create a competitive advantage for safe drivers. The Safety Portal introduces gamification features that turn consistent safety into a badge of honor.

• Streaks: Drivers can track continuous driving hours with zero speeding or distraction events.
• Milestones: Achieving intervals like "Safe Speed for 50 Hours" unlocks milestone badges, reinforcing best-in-class behavior.
• Early Access+: In our pilot, safety became a prerequisite for perks. Drivers with a Safety Score of 95+ gained early access to claim high-demand driving times, which turns safe behavior into increased earning potential.

The results: transformational changes in pilot testing

We tested the Safety Portal with 198 active pilot drivers across diverse markets from Kalamazoo to Sarasota. The data proved that when drivers see their scores, they improve them:

• Fleet-Wide Improvement: The average safety score across the pilot fleet increased by 2.1 points in just 19 days.
• Engaging High-Risk Drivers: 100% of the bottom-performing drivers (those with scores below 85) accessed the portal to review their data.
• Dramatic Behavior Shifts: Our most at-risk drivers saw transformational gains, with their average scores jumping 12.6 points—moving them into the range of our highest safety standards.

What’s the benefit apart from better safety metrics and rider experience? Driver retention.

By giving our driver partners the same high-fidelity insights as our operations teams we’re building a self-optimizing network where safe driving is a professional standard that every driver can achieve.