Using public transport in Israel is enough to make anyone think wistfully of the services they have overseas. At best, you may find yourself sitting on the bench at a bus stop, under the relentless glare of the blazing sun through what was once a roof. At worst, you can find yourself waiting anxiously next to the bus stop itself for fear that the bus will go straight past you without stopping. There may be map on the side of the shelter that is out of date, or perhaps just a crumbling sign, and after standing for half an hour with no bus in sight, your patience wears thin.
Readers of "Globes", some of whom may have long since forgotten what it's like to find oneself in such a predicament, will undoubtedly be familiar with public transport overseas, especially the underground train services where there are announcements giving the exact time of arrival of the next train. How reassuring it is to know exactly when the train or bus you're waiting for is due to arrive; what a pleasure it is to know that it will definitely stop at the station you’re waiting at, that both the station and the bus or train have air conditioning, and that the public announcement system will let you what the next stop is and how far you are from your destination.
Can conditions be improved for users of public transport in Israel, even before we have underground or light rail services here? Michael Wertheim and Tomer Chen, the founders of transport technology start-up Transpot Ltd. quite definitely believe they can.
Transpot is offering monitor screens that can be installed in buses. Displayed on the screen is a map listing all the stops on the route. The screen also has a built-in speaker announcing the next stop and the estimated arrival time at the destination. The map also includes the times of arrival at the stops en-route. It is dotted with icons (indicating landmarks such as, for example, the Azrieli Towers or the sea front) that show people, including those who can't speak Hebrew or are hard of hearing, more or less which direction the bus is traveling in. Each bus has two screens like these, one at the front and the other half-way down the isle.
The traveling times are updated on the map by an algorithmic input from both the GPS system that every bus is connected to, and how far ahead the earlier buses on the same route are. All the buses on the system communicate with one another. In countries that have traffic congestion prediction systems, they can interface with that too. "It is most important that the algorithm is accurate, otherwise we've failed in the most important part of our job - coordinating expectations," says Wertheim. "The algorithm is very complicated - it takes into account traffic lights and can differentiate between traffic light and traffic jam."
Transpot's system is good news not just for passengers on buses, but also those waiting for them. "You can connect up to the system and get a message telling you that the bus is two minutes away from the stop, and only then leave the house," says Chen. Blind passengers can be notified that a bus is due through a message to their mobile handsets. When the bus is at the stop, the speaker inside emits an announcement to make sure no one misses it. "Recently, a group of blind and deaf people sued the bus companies over lack of access, and this could be a solution," he explains.
When the system is not making announcements, it displays the latest news headlines, weather forecast, and so forth, with advertisements - the company's primary source of profit. Aside from the information on bus stops and times, the broadcast remains silent so as not to bother passengers.
Transpot will own the rights to the advertising sales, possibly with a partner such as, for instance, a company that sells advertising space on billboards. In addition, it will receive payment from bus companies on every system installed. As is the case on the Internet, Transpot also doesn't want to limit itself to chasing solely after large advertisers but the long tail as well - the multitude of businesses that do not have the money to spend on mass communications. "You can launch a local campaign even with just NIS 10," they say. The advertising can be location-specific; for instance an advert for a fantastic ice cream parlor very near the next stop.
"If we advertise on one line only, the advert will be viewed by 25 million people a month," says Chen. "We can take about NIS 40,000 on every advert that appears once on the route. The revenue with a bus company the size of Egged with 1,200 routes can run into tens of millions of dollars. The global market is a multibillion market and it's untapped."
Pilots in Europe
The idea for the system occurred to Wertheim while he was traveling on buses when studying for his bachelor's degree. "I felt it was simply a must. People are always looking for ways to occupy themselves when on a bus; they keep looking at their watch and nagging the driver." Sometime later, he was on a flight where one could follow the plane's progress on a map and he noticed how eager passengers were for information. Chen was previously CEO of IT companies such as Softsale PFI and Softdeal. He also served as CEO of Milsoft, Symantec's distributor in Israel.
"The realization that buses need to have GPS and to be able communicate with one another came fairly easily," says Chen. "The challenge was to build the financial model." Transpot has so far been financed by a few million dollars in investment from Dutch Jewish hotelier Baruch Van Der Kamp and other private investors. It is now seeking to raise a further $5 million.
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"The screen is stationed high up and the entire system is hardwired into the bus, which makes it much more expensive, but prevents damage. The buses in Ashkelon have now had the system for ten months."
Do you have any competitors overseas?
Chen:"The bulk of the competition is from simple systems that announce the next stop or screens that display advertisements only. There is one company from Finland called Dealtech which offers something more basic. It has developed a three-dimensional map of the route and your location on it. In the US they have an on-board television network with programs and commercials but no time estimates and route information. We understand that they've invested $100 million in it."
Transpot itself has already signed a contract with Egged Taavura Ltd., a subsidiary of Egged, which will invest $5 million in a joint project with the company, following the success of the pilot in Ashkelon. Transpot is currently at differing stages of negotiations on a number of pilots with companies in Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, and Turkey, each with a fleet numbering tens of thousands of buses.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 10, 2008
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