Swiftly Launches to Improve Urban Mobility for Both Residents & Cities
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) February 18, 2016 -- Today, Swiftly is launching a more accurate, seamless, and community-driven urban transportation app. Recognizing that over half of the world’s population resides in cities with increasing congestion, Swiftly aims to help residents find the fastest and most affordable ways to get from point A to B by offering multiple mobility options — from walking and biking to public transit and rideshare–in a unified experience. The app is launching in San Francisco.
“As city residents who avoid the costs and burdens of car ownership ourselves, we rely heavily on a combination of mobility options ,” said Jonny Simkin, Swiftly’s CEO. “By making it easier for residents to use sustainable transportation options, we can contribute to a reduction in congestion and carbon emissions.”
Unlike existing efforts to improve urban mobility, Swiftly focuses on providing more accurate real-time information. In partnership with Michael Smith, the former CTO and GM of NextBus, and now a co-founding member of Swiftly, the company has developed a more accurate system to predict when transit vehicles will arrive. This algorithm, named Metronome, already benchmarks up to 20% more accurate than San Francisco’s current real-time passenger information system powered by NextBus.
In addition to providing more accurate real-time information, Swiftly enables users to report transit issues such as delays or overcrowding to fellow riders. These issues are contextually presented to other riders along the same routes. This crowdsourcing platform facilitates more timely and accurate advisory information when transit issues inevitably occur.
Swiftly also includes real-time information from Uber, with surge pricing, as well as walking and biking directions, to help give city residents more options when getting around town. The company has plans to add additional transportation options in the near future.
COLLABORATING WITH CITIES
Swiftly works directly with cities to reduce congestion, carbon emissions, and improve the commute for residents. To that end, the company has developed a data-driven software suite which cities and transit agencies can use to improve operational efficiency, make smarter investments, and better engage riders. This system is currently being piloted with select partners.
Bay Area residents can download the Swiftly mobile app for iOS at http://goswift.ly/get-swiftly-app.
ABOUT SWIFTLY
Swiftly makes data-driven software applications that improve urban mobility. For residents, the Swiftly mobile app finds the fastest and most affordable ways to get around town by analyzing real-time multi-modal information. For governments, Swiftly provides software tools that help cities and transit agencies improve operational efficiency, make smarter investments, and better engage riders. The company is based in San Francisco, CA, and more information can be found at goswift.ly and on Twitter @SwiftlyInc.
Stan Parkford, Swiftly, Inc., http://www.goswift.ly, +1 (415) 569-0896, [email protected]
Share this article