Samuel Sed Piazza'', Country Manager of Moovit, talks to Thedayaftergr and explain how public transportation could be perfected by the public. Moovit App Global Ltd., a leader in urban mobility and the developer of the world’s
#1 transit app, it has closed a $50 million Series D round led by Intel Capital.
All Moovit’s earlier investors participated, including Sequoia, BMW iVentures, NGP, Ashton
Kutcher’s Sound Ventures, BRM, Gemini, Vaizra, Vintage, and newcomer Hanaco.The infusion of capital brings to $133 million the total raised by Moovit. Moovit’s free app provides comprehensive transit information to more than 120 million users in
more than 2,000 cities in 80 countries.
Letta Kalamara
What is it about Moovit's global operating system for urban mobility and what does the vision of transit transformation includes according to Moovit's creators?
The Smart Transit Suite platform developed by moovit, helps governments, transit operators, urban planners, make better decisions regarding public transit in their cities. Moovit gathers 1 billion anonymous transit data points from trips every day, making the company the largest repository of transit data in the world. This platform is a data portal for precise real time information on bus and train locations, passenger wait times, optimal routes, transit surveys and more. Moovit’s operating system is on a mission to keep improving the lives of millions of people in the biggest cities of the world.
What is Moovit's activity in Greece? With which organizations Moovit works with? And what are the results of the company's activity in the Greek urban mobility market, in what areas has it helped users, what problems the app solves, etc.? Give us some examples.
Moovit app was launched in Athens in 2014 and has been expanding rapidly since then, currently covering 20 cities in Greece (Athens, Thessaloniki, Patra, Arta, Veria, Mykonos, Santorini, Meganisi, Rhodes, Kalamata, Komotini, Kavala, Volos, Larissa, Amorgos, Ioannina, Chania, Heraklion, Kos, Corfu) and Nicosia in Cyprus. Moovit has been working with various media and public transit organizations to improve the transit experience for passengers, locals and tourists. Companies and organizations like Free Sunday, airtickets, Color Day Festival, TRAINOSE and OASA to name a few. It is the #1 public transit app in the country and in addition to the best transit directions, a real time picture of the public transit in the city, it also provides walking, bicycle routes and supports people with disabilities and blind people with the VoiceOver and Talkback technologies. User reports help other riders know about the transit conditions in real time, alerts help the passengers plan their trip even when there is a strike or important events that disrupt the routes or schedules.
Are there any further plans for the development of the Greek office and the expansion of Moovit's activity in other cities in Greece?
Our focus is to provide the best service in the cities Moovit covers, to keep our information updated and keep expanding to Greek cities and islands to further improve and assist the public transit experience.
What difference does Moovit bring to the auto-driving market?
Moovit is a transit app and Moovit is aggregating a lot of statistical data about other means of transportation but not auto driving – public transit vehicles, buses, trains, subways, light rails, side by side with walking patterns, cycling patterns.
What plans are there for the evolution of the solution it provides and in which direction?
With the new funding round led by Intel Capital, moovit will help cities evolve by being more efficient in their complex public transit networks, provide better and updated information for citizens. Moovit is also based on crowdsourced information with a community of 250.000 global volunteers who map, add and improve transit data in Moovit’s platform which we call the Editor. Moovit app also provides last mile directions, even when a bus does not reach the user’s destination, the app connects to bike sharing routes and programs, walking, and Uber and other on-demand services.
