Companies to Watch - Feb 14, 2019

Five Transit and Mobility Companies to Watch

February 19, 2019 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Five Transit and Mobility Companies to Watch

New York City’s subway moves approximately 5.7 million people a day, a fact that sets us apart from other American cities. However, the subway and our broader public transportation network are faltering. In order for our city — and the tech community — to continue flourishing, our public transportation system must be improved and expanded. At the same time our city and state policymakers are currently exploring ways to address the transportation crisis, New York’s tech companies are simultaneously developing technologies that can improve our infrastructure.     That’s why, last week, we hosted a forum to bridge the two conversations. We welcomed New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and a panel of tech leaders to discuss the ways the sector can (and already does!) work with government to keep our transportation system moving. We covered lots of high-tech trends — autonomous vehicles, real-time street intelligence, data mapping — as well as some low-tech fixes — dedicated bike and bus lanes and congestion pricing. The key takeaway was this: innovation can’t stand alone. Public policy needs to work in collaboration with technology as a supportive and responsive partner. That’s how new ideas — and even old ones — flourish.In that spirit, this month’s Companies to Watch features five transit and mobility startups working to improve the ways we move around the city. Get a taste of their ideas below, and read the whole post here.P.S. Were you at the event and leave behind a (very nice) Stetson newsboy cap? Just reply to this email and let us know — we’re taking good care of it.   

ClearRoad

What does your company do?ClearRoad CEO Frederic Charlier and COO Paul Salama: ClearRoad is software platform to handle the transactions for road usage pricing — a type of micro-tolling that charges vehicles in incremental amounts based on how much they drive. ClearRoad accomplishes this by pulling from the vehicle location and mileage provided by connected car technologies that are becoming more ubiquitous (i.e. requiring minimal, if any, physical infrastructure). We’re currently running statewide projects in Washington and Oregon with drivers paying by the mile instead of gas taxes, and we’re expanding to use our platform for congestion pricing.Many groups are focusing on getting people off roads to improve mobility and productivity. ClearRoad doesn’t want people off roads, you just want road use to be more efficient. Where did that idea come from?FC and PS: It’s just basic economics. In any city, there’s competition for a limited amount of space, and the question is always: how do we allocate it? For almost a century, cities have been giving space over to cars, for free. Cars are just about the least efficient way to move around. That is, until empty autonomous vehicles come, so there’s some urgency to get the right pricing and policies in place soon. This is about improving overall mobility — more money to buy trains, reducing cars in the street for faster, more reliable bus trips, more bike lanes… 

FairFare

What does your company do?FairFare founder and CEO Adero Davis: FairFare is a personalized direct booking, intelligent ride-hail marketplace app. It’s powered by proprietary algorithms, which matches users to efficient solutions that are initiated by user preferences, and it functions as a marketplace that cross-matches personal transportation preferences with lifestyle spending habits, thereby becoming a direct asset to businesses, government, and consumers. We get you from point A to point B in the most efficient manner possible.As the market evolves what kind of role do see ride-sharing playing in the broader transportation space?AD: I believe ride sharing will become the mode of transport for urban dwellers because it really is just too annoying driving in the city. I also think ride shares will be more utilized for two-fare zones, as its safer and quicker, but there’s more work to do on pricing so it’s affordable for not just for professionals, but for every demographic that has to go from point A to point B in NYC. Linking with improved public transportation initiatives and the autonomous vehicle wave (which is really fun and being tested a lot in German), I think FairFare’s platform can withstand the evolutions the space will undergo. 

What does your company do?Tarform co-founder and CEO Taras Kravtchouk: Tarform’s mission is to set a new standard for two wheeled transport by developing fully electric, premium motorcycles, using sustainable materials and AI technology.

How are social ventures better positioned to address gaps that government may overlook?HC: Startups have the ability to move quickly and take risks – two things that can be hard for government to do effectively. That said, when you’re talking about core social services, it’s important for social ventures to make sure they have a backup plan so that if their product doesn’t work as intended, they aren’t leaving their users worse-off than before. 

The Free Ride

What does your company do?The Free Ride co-founders Alexander Esposito and James Mirras: The Free Ride creates and operates microtransit mobility solutions using large fleets of compact electric vehicles and a mobile app. Paid for by public and private groups depending on the area, the rides are completely free to passengers.Currently, transit contracts account for about 25% of your business. How do you see your role within the broader transit space changing in the coming year?AE: Transit services is the fastest growing area of the business and we have a few forces working in our favor. We fit into a great first/last mile space that many cities are grappling with. The more traditional ride-share services are great at moving people around, but studies have shown that they’re pulling people from mass transit, that most people aren’t sharing these rides, and that congestion has increased significantly.  We really focus on creating local jobs, training our drivers, and creating a passenger experience that people want to be a part of. With that, ridership is high (the FRED program with Civic San Diego is busy all the time), we’re reducing vehicle miles of travel (VMTs), and connecting more people with mass transit.  The service is also a great way to connect with or get people around campuses, malls, large parking lots, etc. 

Numina

What does your company do?Numina co-founder and CEO Tara Pham: Numina is a data utility for more responsive cities. With a proprietary computer vision-based sensor that mounts to light poles, Numina measures all types of street-level traffic to deliver volume counts, paths, and other patterns of pedestrians, bicycles, cars, trucks, buses, dogs, you-name-it. Numina never collects any personally identifiable information and from Day 1 has been committed to providing intelligence without surveillance. Numina data helps city planners, mobility companies, and other enterprises design places for people instead of just for cars.

How does New York City, specifically, inspire you to empower cities with data? TP: What’s awesome about New York City is the sheer scale. You look at a city that spends $4 billion a year on trash management, and you realize any gains mean millions of dollars in savings. You can do something that changes 0.4% of people’s transportation experiences in a day, and it’s 50,000 people’s commutes. Improve something about New York City Housing Authority and realize it affects a population the size of Miami’s. There’s so much to solve, and when you start trying to chip away at these problems, you see how much it matters. As a city nerd, I am in awe of NYC everyday.Join Us

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