Economic growth through Mobility-as-a-Service
Door-to-door journeys have the potential to create new jobs and stimulate economic development
Brightline Rail is launching Brighline+, a seamless Rail MaaS offering that enables the planning, purchase, and fulfilment of door-to-door journeys across the Miami, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and soon to be Orlando.
It is powered by the Iomob open mobility marketplace and journey planner which have been integrated to supercharge the existing Brightline Trains app.
This deployment is a milestone for a number of reasons – it is the first deployment of its kind in the US, is a testament to Brightline’s ambition of bringing high-speed rail (which rivals the car’s convenience) to Florida and beyond, and demonstrates the potential impact on the local economy in and around Miami, making it an interesting test case for MaaS globally.
Miami Mayor, Frances Suarez said in a recent statement that “[…] the debut of Brightline+ is a key component to transforming Miami into a major technology hub in the U.S.,” and that “with this new innovation in transportation, we are connecting Miami like never before, providing endless business opportunities for the entire region of South Florida.”
Suarez is supporting an age-old argument: connectivity is essential to support, maintain, and stimulate economic development.
David Lyons, in his piece for the Mass Transit Mag, reported on how seamlessly combining rail journeys with electric shuttle services, taxis, bikes, scooters, buses and metro in one app user experience will make the commute easier and more attractive.
An “easier commute” is only the beginning. As Lyons reports, Kelly Smallridge, president and CEO of the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County, says that “Brightline will help open up the two other markets for their workforces” in reference to the support she has witnessed from CEOs who are setting up operations in Palm Beach County.
Brightline’s railroad is symbolic of a new wave of business and leisure travel. With upwards of 70% of US citizens commuting by single occupancy cars even before the pandemic[1], the potential for a seamless experience which supports the customer from the moment they leave their house to the moment they arrive at the office, Brightline+ will be seriously disruptive to the living and working lives of South Floridians.
Ryan Lynch discusses this further in his article here. Lynch gets the thoughts of Bob O’Malley, executive VP of Corporate Development at the Orlando Office of Railroad Consultants PLLC, who is supportive of Brightline’s expansion across South Florida and the potential impact of Brightline+.
O’Malley notes that the expansion and door-to-door experience may be a catalyst for new business partnerships, as well as improve access to more talent.
MaaS deployments clearly have the potential to transform transport and business ecosystems, but Iomob’s technology solution can do this better than most.
At Iomob, we supercharge the apps and platforms of our clients, an approach that consolidates the potential of MaaS deployments using our Mobility-on-Demand platform to positively impact local economic development.
We boast an agnostic approach, meaning our technology can be used in multiple apps by multiple clients in a single region, city, or country. Moreover with more than 8 modes, 7000 providers, and 270 cities (and growing), the Iomob platform can serve a wide geographic audience with unmatched depth of services.
With Brightline+, Iomob is proud to be powering a door-to-door solution which can have great impact on the surrounding businesses and communities. We are excited to see many of the above possibilities come to fruition in the South Florida area and are thrilled to have seen such support from local business thus far.
[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-22/how-americans-commute-to-work-in-maps
