AN innovative technology that will merge London’s transportation services onto one platform debuts today (June 11, 2018).
Called Mobility Marketplace, it will show live schedule updates, pricing comparisons, and booking options.
Developed by HERE Mobility – a subsidiary of HERE Technologies, a provider of mapping and location data that’s majority owned by Audi, BMW and Daimler – it will open its Mobility Marketplace to all businesses wishing to integrate Mobility as a Service in their offerings.
The system will allow users to connect to all urban transit options throughout the city with real-time booking, pricing and timetable features.
The platform will debut as a physical transit kiosk at the London Tech Week conference (11-17 June, 2018), where attendees can connect directly to the Mobility Marketplace and book travel from the widest selection of mobility providers for seamless travel, the company says.
In 2017, more than 3.37 billion passenger journeys were made using London’s vast transit network – on buses, trains, ferries, bike shares, cabs, ride-shares, and so on. Despite the diversity of transit options, Londoners still have the longest average commute by time across all of Great Britain and transit is 6% over-capacity during morning peak hours.
HERE Mobility Marketplace says it can alleviate congested transit systems with a single point of access where all riders and all mobility suppliers are connected.
The company says that the platform will offer cities and transit planners a deep dive into smart routing options to avoid congestion, addressing mobility challenges, improving quality of life, and helping businesses understand and meet customers’ mobility needs, while providing mobility suppliers access to the widest market possible.
“With over 1.5 million people moving to cities worldwide every week, cities are desperately seeking ways to help people travel from A to B,” said Liad Itzhak, SVP Head of Mobility at HERE.
“Yet many cities are seeing their transit networks dominated by a few big players, creating monopolies that make transit ineffective. HERE Mobility takes a holistic approach to transportation by providing an open mobility system that updates in real-time as new transit suppliers emerge. This type of platform has the power to help cities facing rapid population growth understand what transit resources exist and what gaps remain to be filled.”
Since HERE Mobility’s launch in January 2018, transportation suppliers from over 120 cities in Europe, the US, and Latin America have joined the HERE Mobility Marketplace.
Among those to partner with HERE Mobility in London is CityFleet Networks and Green Tomato Cars.
CityFleet is a member of the transport giant ComfortDelGro Corporation, one of the world’s largest land transport companies.
The partnership will provide access to London’s largest licensed Taxi circuit with CityFleet owning and operating Comcab and having recently acquired Dialacab. Comcab also operate licensed Taxis in Liverpool and Aberdeen.
Green Tomato Cars is London’s largest ultra-low emission car service and the first company to operate with a hybrid fleet. It is owned by Transdev, a global transportation giant operating in 19 countries.
In addition to debuting its Mobility Marketplace kiosk at London Tech Week, HERE Mobility will host a live Smart City demo showing how their Mobility Marketplace can help cities optimise transit planning and ride efficiency.
