Ford Smart Mobility Acquiring Journey Holding; Accelerating Solutions for Public and Private Transit Systems

To support its commitment to deliver integrated solutions that support cities and their transportation systems, Ford Smart Mobility LLC (FSM), a division of Ford Motor Company, today is announcing an agreement to acquire Journey Holding Corporation.

Journey Holding, a technology company that specializes in software solutions for intelligent transportation systems, will integrate its offerings with FSM’s TransLoc, a provider of technology solutions for on-demand and fixed route systems for public and private transit operations. Journey Holding CEO Justin Rees will lead the new operation.

“The combination of these transit technology companies will accelerate our efforts to help cities deliver more seamless, productive, and accessible transportation solutions to their citizens and visitors,” said Brett Wheatley, vice president Ford Mobility Marketing and Growth. “It also will be key to connecting customers with the other mobility solutions in our portfolio, such as Spin e-scooters and our GoRide Health service.”

Together, the new group serves nearly 1200 cities, universities, corporate campuses and other enterprises with software solutions for fixed route transportation, microtransit on-demand transportation and other related areas. The combined team of more than 200 employees has a proven record of reliably providing services to cities and other enterprise customers to improve transportation systems and rider experiences.

“The need for safe and seamless transportation is critical in our cities globally,” said Rees. “Together, we will be able to offer transit leaders globally a full suite of services backed by the credibility and commitment of Ford Motor Company.”

Other members of the new company’s leadership team appointed today include:

• Scott Lacy, vice president of Product
• Ron Cygnarowicz, vice president of Customers
• Ilya Rekhter, vice president of Growth
• Kevin Fowler, vice president of Finance
• Katie Strickland, vice president of People
• Peter SerVaas, vice president of Innovation
• Kelly Rees, vice president of Integration

TransLoc CEO Doug Kaufman will leave the transit technology company on Aug. 16.

Journey Holding was established in 2018 as the result of a merger between Indianapolis-based DoubleMap Inc. and Salt Lake City-based Ride Systems LLC. Both companies provide automatic vehicle location services to municipalities, universities, airports, hospitals and corporate fleets. DoubleMap was founded in 2011 by Ilya Rekhter, Peter SerVaas, and Eric Jiang. Ride Systems was founded in 2007 by Justin Rees, Kelly Rees and Ben Haynie.

The name of the combined organization will be announced at a later date. The terms of this acquisition are not being disclosed.