Tube strikes yet another sign of a Stop/Start approach by government that doesn't work, says Zeelo

LONDON, March 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sam Ryan, CEO of Zeelo - the smart bus platform for organisations using tech to optimise bus travel for 1.8m passengers every year across the world on their daily commutes to work and school comments that the UK government has lost touch with the reality on the frontline:

"This week's tube strikes, poor replacement public transport and private taxis - together with the risk at the end of this month that bus transport services will also be axed when Emergency Covid Funding comes abruptly to an end - just shows how urgent it is now that we get much smarter about how we design our transport services. Strikes and budget cuts are creating a public transport death spiral. Not everyone can work from home. This is actually not quite the norm. A norm is when something becomes mainstream for the masses. Our masses are not desk workers who can be productive from their living room. Our masses are frontline workers who are the backbone of our national economy who have buoyed us from sinking into a deeper economic crisis since the start of the pandemic. Their needs should be considered a top priority, not the bottom of the public agenda.

"In the private sector, we have spotted a tech-enabled solution that optimises bus and coach travel with AI and data to deliver more reliable, faster and greener travel for the daily commute. Buses are 1.5x greener than trains and 6x greener than cars. But public bus transport is built on an inefficient business model and does not cater for essential daily commutes, which are at key times of day. There are ways to rethink this so that each stakeholder is satisfied with the service - from the pay check received by the driver and his hours of work, to increasing occupancy of buses by tailoring services for defined categories of travellers. This can be done with data. That's what we've been doing at Zeelo. The problem with public sector transport solutions is that the value proposition of the service doesn't match the demand in the right way. If they were a business, they would not have achieved product-market-fit.

"The solution is not to push back on strike action, which is a fair protest, but to redesign the service. Transport is not just a service. Mobility is an essential component of economic revival. The ease with which we can go to work, school, the doctor's and the shops for groceries, is what will keep the engine of our economy running. We cannot overlook it. Transport is the industry we should be investing in. But we need to do it right."

About Zeelo

Zeelo is a smart bus platform for organisations. The global tech company is modernizing daily bus commutes for frontline workers and students so that they can get to work and school in a faster, smarter, and much greener way. Zeelo serves over 100 large businesses and independent schools and moves nearly 150,000 riders each month across the world. Zeelo's tech-optimised bus routes not only reduce carbon emissions by 78% by replacing 30 cars for every bus journey, but also offset 100% of each Zeelo bus journey. Its innovative transport management software system comprises a SaaS platform, proprietary routing algorithms and multiple consumer apps that ensure people located in transport deserts have a regular, subsidised bus service for their daily commute wherever they are based. Headquartered in London with over 130 employees across the UK, North America, South Africa and Spain, the company was founded by Sam Ryan, Barney Williams and Dani Ruiz. The cofounders previously sold their pioneering ride-sharing app JumpIn to Addison Lee in 2014.

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For more information, please contact:
Sonia Afzal
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Zeelo.co
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