Innovation in public transport
Transport for London is hoping to spark public transport change via data-crunching startups
Transport for London is hoping to spark public transport change via data-crunching startups.
Between self-driving cars and reach-for-the-moon projects such as Elon Musk’s Space X and Hyperloop, there’s plenty of innovation in transport. But what about the public side? Who’s going to make buses run more regularly or solve the parking shortage?
Transport for London (TfL) has teamed up with accelerator Nitrous to, well, accelerate innovation in public transport. It’s supporting six startups in the hope that their ideas will make it easier for those of us without Musk’s money to get around.
George Johnston, founder of Nitrous, explained that the programme helps connect startups with local government and then refine their products, particularly via access to their data. “There’s no doubt that there is room for improvement – whether it’s planning new public transport routes or adapting existing resources to meet changing demands,” he said. “And it begins with a better understanding of our existing structures and user needs – looking at the data already being collected, identifying and filling gaps, and ultimately driving better data-based decision making. What’s really exciting is that the technology already exists to achieve this and in five years, it could truly shift what transportation systems look like.”
Alchera Technologies
Existing ways to capture city data are expensive, slow and lack detail, but Alchera Technologies has a solution. “We chose to focus on computer vision to solve this problem, by applying machine learning algorithms to computer vision on existing video feeds,” said Anna Jordan, head of commercial and technical operations at the startup. In practice, that means the likes of TfL will know when a bus is empty or full, or a junction too congested – meaning it can take action to fix the problem.
Blubel
Forget strapping your smartphone to your handlebars, Blubel makes a smart bicycle bell that provides simple navigational aids via lights and sounds. Plus, if you spot a hazard such as roadworks or potholes, ring the bell and the warning will be shared with other riders. “The idea of Blubel came about as a result of my own cycling experience in London,” said cofounder Sasha Afanasieva. “It’s one of the best ways to travel in the city, but it can also be incredibly stressful if you don’t know the way.” Blubel is available for pre-order at blubel.co, with shipping expected this summer.
Faxi
Large organisations often don’t have enough parking for their employees. Faxi’s solution is to hook up coworkers who travel in the same direction for car-sharing, offering benefits such as reserved or free parking spots to those who take part. “Ride-sharing optimises parking, but reserved parking encourages ride-sharing,” founder Tony Lynch explained. “Everybody wins.”
The Uber for employers is being trialled by Northamptonshire county council and Vodafone, and Lynch believes the idea could be used across London as a modern form of carpool lanes, with its proximity-sensing tools stopping people cheating the system.
NumberEight
Public transport doesn’t always fit our personal needs – and NumberEight hopes to change that. Co-founder Abhishek Sen says the startup’s aim is to make public or shared transport the “most attractive” way to get around. To do so, AI software will pull data from smartphones and wearable sensors, helping to show transport providers where you really want to go.
“The key to getting more people to use public transport as their primary mode of transport is to deliver an experience that is ten times better than driving one’s own vehicle and we believe our software has the potential to enable this behavioural change,” Sen said. A version of the app for iOS is in beta testing, and the startup hopes to be ready to launch by early 2018.
Pedals Delivery
With Pedals Delivery, bike commuters can earn spare cash by making deliveries on their way to work. “We intelligently match cyclists with jobs that won’t take them too much out of their way on their commutes to and from work or university,” said founder Richa Bhalla. The startup is hoping that by working with TfL, it can see where cyclists travel. “If we can learn about the most popular routes in the city, we can begin to understand the natural flow of cyclists around London,” he said. Pedals is already open for trials, for deliveries and riders, at pedals-delivery.com.
TravelAi
It’s hard for planners to see how you really get around, noted TravelAi founder Andreas Zachariah. They rely on paper surveys and data collected by travel cards such as TfL’s Oyster, but those are limited to certain modes of transport. “Our mission is to use smartphones to effortlessly provide critical and insightful operational data about how everyday people use transport systems,” he said.
“The Oyster Card system gives TfL one of the most sophisticated views of how a transport system is working, capturing where someone enters and exits the tube... and boards buses,” he added. “But even TfL can’t connect the car user with their public transport usage, walking or cycling.”