Bridj Releases App, Says It’s a ‘First Step’ Toward Dynamic Routing
Bridj, the Boston transit startup, has promised a different take on commuting since the company came out of the shadows last year. The idea: a system that allows customers to say where they are and where they need to go, and bus routes that are flexible enough to cater to those needs based on demand. For commuters, that would mean a sort of bus service that would adjust its routes and stops based on the locations of people rather than stations, and provide a direct line from one neighborhood to another (meaning no switching from bus to bus, or from bus to train).
Nobody’s sure quite yet what that will look like, or when it will happen, or whether it will work. In a press release issued Monday, Bridj said it has taken its “first step’’—a limited step—toward that ambition.
Bridj has offered a commuter bus service in Boston since June, but it hasn’t been all that different from traditional bus services. Users could go to the company’s website, choose a time to commute, choose a route from one Bridj stop to another, and then head to the stop and step aboard. As for a flexible service? That hasn’t really been seen yet—though spokesperson Ryan Kelly and CEO Matt George have both said that’s by design. “We wanted to put rubber on the road,’’ Kelly told Boston.com Monday. “This has been about working out the logistics of showing we can put buses on the road every morning and follow regulations,’’ George previously said.
On Monday, Bridj unveiled a few new features. For starters, it’s now offering an evening commute between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Bridj had until this point been offering only morning transportation.
The service also released its mobile app on Monday. Starting with Tuesday’s trips, users will be able to input their location and destination on the app, and Bridj will provide a list of times the customer can be picked up at a nearby spot. The app will provide an estimate of how long it will take users to walk to the bus from their pickup locations—it promises a maximum of 12 minutes—and from the drop-off spots to their final destinations. And it will give real-time updates on the arrival of users’ bus, as well as walking directions to their pickup locations.
For now, the service is only active in a few neighborhoods in Boston, Cambridge, and Brookline. You can see them here, but they are the same neighborhoods that users could commute between using the previous system of booking rides through the company’s website. Commutes between some neighborhoods and others aren’t yet available, and some are only operational for the evening commute. And the flexibility factor is still just about absent: the buses will still be running on set routes, those routes will just be presented differently to users through the app.
So the biggest change for users—aside from the ability to get a ride home in the afternoon—is the switch from booking rides on the web to booking them on the app, allowing them to choose a destination rather than a route. That’s a little bit more on-demand than Bridj had been, but is still a bit off from the commuting dynamism the startup aims to provide.
Kelly, the Bridj spokesperson, says that from the company’s perspective, the app release is a big deal. “Now we have something to iterate on,’’ he told Boston.com. Bridj scientist David Block-Schachter added that dynamic routing will require more users and further number crunching, which he says the app will allow for. “With ridership growth and the technology improvements we are rolling out today we will be able to increase the responsiveness of our service to riders’ locations over the coming months,’’ he said.
Bridj will also be unveiling branded buses Tuesday, which will wear the service’s name. Thus far, it has used third-party buses hired through existing livery companies for its morning trips. Kelly declined to say whether Bridj owns the new buses that will bear Bridj’s name and slogan, but said they will be “operated through Bridj’’ and that the commuting service will be the buses’ “sole purpose.’’
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