Zipabout has provided Oxfordshire County Council (OCC) with what it describes as “pioneering ethical technology” via its Local platform. It is to help the local authority (LA) achieve its Local Transport and Connectivity Plan, which includes encouragement of public transport use and active travel, and forms part of a Zipabout offer to all LAs of the platform free-of-charge.
The suite of digital tools will enable OCC to reward greener travel choices with easily redeemable initiatives, provide unbiased real-time journey information, and fully integrate micro-mobility options into the existing public transport network.
In what Zipabout says is a first of its kind approach to mobility services, all the above will be delivered through existing messaging channels such as Messenger and WhatsApp, removing the requirement for users to download an app and with no location tracking or collection of personal data.
The supplier will also provide OCC with full access to data to better understand real-time transport demand in urban and rural areas. Such behavioural insight will be used to plan public transport networks based on actual need. That, says Zipabout, will solve “current challenges around over- and under-utilised bus and train routes” and help to encourage more use of sustainable transport.
The Local platform will support and enable the services offered by all transport operators and providers, including bus routes. It is hoped that other parts of the UK will follow Oxfordshire’s lead in adopting the technology.
Oxfordshire will become the founding member of a new knowledge network that has been established to enable cities and regions to identify common transport challenges and share best practice, eliminating the need for what Zipabout says are “costly mobility pilots at taxpayers’ expense.”
CEO Alex Froom adds that predicting demand is the starting point to solving a mobility crisis. “Every traveller needs to be given ethical, impartial advice so they can make the right choices. Local authorities need an easy-to-use toolkit that allows them to utilise data, and provide insight and ways to communicate with the public.
“There isn’t any need for a gimmick accelerator culture that creates yet another app. We partner with LAs to enable innovation, and unlike others, we offer our technology for free.”
