Trafi takes its mobility-as-a-service platform to LatAm, starting with Bogota

[NelsonG]

Trafi, the Lithuanian startup that created a platform that lets users plan, book and pay for various modes of transportation within a city, is expanding beyond the European market where it got its start to tackle one of the most congested urban areas in the world.

The company said it has reached an agreement to provide its mobility-as-a-service platform in Bogota, Colombia.

Trafi’s platform is a white label product. But underneath the name — whether it’s Yuomov in Zurich, Jelbi in Berlin or MVG in Munich — is the same underlying technology. The company, which operates in seven European cities, is able to capture transportation data to provide real-time route planning for users. It also handles the payment system, which helps it stand apart from some of its competitors.

Trafi doesn’t just work with cities, however. The company’s tech is also used by Google, Lyft and Gojek — to name a few.

In Bogota, the platform will pull together all the forms of public transit, including buses and trams, as well as local taxis and e-bikes. Users can use the single-payment system to book and pay for the various modes of transportation. The app includes real-time departure information, a “nearby function” that will show the user all mobility options available within their location and “intermodal routing,” which proposes combinations of up to three different modes such as taking an e-bike to the bus stop.

Image Credits: Trafi

Bogota is just the start. Trafi co-founder and CEO Martynas Gudonavičius told TechCrunch that the company plans to expand to other LatAm cities. The company will target capital cities in other LatAm countries first, places like São Paulo in Brazil. Gudonavičius said Trafi will seek out contracts with smaller and medium-sized cities in the region as well. Any city with digital ticketing and various modes of transportation, including scooter and bicycles, buses and ride-hailing, is a good fit for the company, he added.

“Latin America is a superb example where mobility-as-a-service can really strive,” Gudonavičius said. “This is why we’re in Bogota, it’s this young, dynamic, fast-growing population. And we are here to help them do the big transition from transportation patterns and behavior they have at the moment, to a mobility-as-a service concept.”

Trafi is hiring for a director in the region and plans to hire more people in all departments this year. It’s also eyeing an expansion into Asia in the second half of 2021. Gudonavičius wouldn’t provide specific details, but said the company had a short list of cities it wanted to enter. He specifically noted that Trafi planned to expand to a city in Japan.

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