Introducing Populus Mobility Manager: An Advanced Data Platform for the Future of Cities
At Populus, we believe that the future of transportation will be multimodal and that today, cities have an unprecedented opportunity to redesign streets to move more people, instead of cars.
Built by former transportation scientists who have spent the past decade developing software for cities to predict the future of travel, the Populus team has had a front row seat to the challenges that cities face when they have limited data or information about how transportation is changing around them.
Today, we are excited to announce the launch of Populus Mobility Manager, an advanced analytics platform that helps cities and private mobility companies (e.g., bikeshare, scootershare, carshare) work more seamlessly together through better data.
By serving as a trusted, third-party data platform, Populus delivers cities the insights they need to design data-driven policies and transportation plans, while protecting information that requires safeguarding.
The Future of Transportation is Multimodal
Uber and Lyft first launched commercial services less than ten years ago — and cities have never been the same. Ride-hailing services have fundamentally changed the way that people think about transportation, from mobility as a product (i.e. a car that you own) to mobility as a service.
Earlier this year, Populus released new insights on the adoption and perceptions of shared electric scooters, which have taken the world by storm. This latest transportation innovation has dramatically called into question how we prioritize public space — why is it, for instance, that cities haven’t allocated more space to walk, ride bicycles, or use other forms of active transportation?
This “micro-mobility revolution” has brought together a new set of actors who are now calling for better infrastructure to prioritize pedestrians, bikes, and of course, scooters.
Many cities welcome this change. However, one of the key pain points on the part of the public sector continues to be lack of access to data for transportation planners to develop policies and design infrastructure that can effectively integrate shared mobility services.
Better Data Leads to Better Policies
At Populus, we know firsthand from our experiences working in partnership with the public sector that it is only through better data that cities are able to develop better policies, better infrastructure, and ultimately, better transportation outcomes for everyone.
With reliable access to shared mobility data, cities can harness a wealth of information to (sensibly) develop plans for the expansion of bike lanes, identify areas for bicycle and scooter parking, and design pick-up and drop-off areas for ride-hailing (and eventually autonomous) vehicles. The goal: to facilitate the growth of shared services, including mass transit, to move more people, more efficiently.
Without access to data and and software solutions that can cost-effectively harness this new-found information, shared mobility companies and cities will continue to struggle to work together — as has been the case for much of the past decade. There are solutions for the public and private sectors to partner to deliver better transportation as a team.
We’ve introduced Populus Mobility Manager to help cities and private mobility companies work more seamlessly together to deliver safe, equitable, and efficient streets — today, and as the transportation landscape continues to rapidly evolve.
We’re excited for what the next decade of transportation innovation will bring — the revolution to take back city streets for moving people has arrived.
Partner With Us
We’re looking for innovative cities and mobility companies to collaborate with us as we build solutions for the future of transportation. Is your team ready to move forward with new solutions? Learn more here or send us a note at hello@populus.ai if you’ll be at one of the following upcoming events where we’ll be speaking:
- APTA Annual in Nashville
- Designing Cities in Los Angeles
- VERGE in Oakland
- LACoMotion in Los Angeles
About Populus
At Populus, we’re helping cities and private mobility providers deliver safe, efficient, and equitable streets through better data. Our core platform, Populus Mobility Manager, integrates real-time data from multiple operators (shared bikes, scooters, and cars) for cities from coast to coast. Founded by transportation PhDs from MIT and UC Berkeley, the Populus team combines over 30 years of experience building software for (and with) public agencies to plan for the future.
Are you a city looking for new data, methods, and software solutions to transition to the future of mobility? Reach out to us at hello@populus.ai or join Populus for an upcoming webinar on the opportunities to harness new mobility data for transportation policy and planning.
