Interview with Matt George, CEO of mobility startup Bridj

Transit startups, playing nice with municipalities, machine learning and urban tech, and the enduring value of the bus

Ed. This piece was originally written on 14 November 2014. Bridj subsequently shut down operations in Boston, although the brand and concept was acquired and, at time of writing this intro, runs in Sydney, apparently without Matt George on board. Bridj was an early example of a service concept that is increasingly familiar, and by actively liaising with public transit agencies and municipalities, they provided a welcome alternative to the aggressive blitzscaling tactics of other mobility startups at that point.

As research for my recent Dezeen column, and the longer piece it was drawn from—both of which unpick the promise and pitfalls of predictive urban analytics and transport startups—I asked Matt George, CEO of Bridj, a Boston-based startup, a few questions. I’m reproducing the exchange below, as I find Bridj really interesting for a number of reasons.

Bridj clearly sits alongside existing public transport services, looking to augment and ‘bridge’ the gaps, and so potentially avoid some of the issues of the ‘adjacent incumbent’ I wrote about. Although they’re VC-backed, they focus on something akin…