The City of Houston and the Texas Department of Transportation have launched a Mobility as a Service/Mobility on Demand service in Houston, Texas. The consortium of local and public authorities, which included the Federal Highway Administration, Houston METRO and the Houston-Galveston Area Council, have implemented a solution from Texas-based developer Metropia.

According to the company, the City of Houston ConnectSmart service is the first MaaS/MOD platform deployment in a US major metropolitan area that integrates system operations. The ConnectSmart app was developed on Metropia’s platform and tailored to respond to the particular requirements of Greater Houston’s transportation systems.

The approach adopted for ConnectSmart is designed to allow any agency to launch a customised app for their region by integrating local traffic data, transit and other mobility service providers to solve regional transportation challenges.

ConnectSmart is designed to help users enjoy improved commutes, connect to mobility options, book and pay for transit tickets, rely less on single-occupancy vehicles, improve safety, and reduce traffic along with the resulting harmful exhaust emissions associated with congestion.

Metropia Founder and President, Yi-Chang Chiu, PhD, said, “Fixing traffic congestion cannot be solved simply by building more highways. Metropia’s approach in developing ConnectSmart was to build upon conventional MaaS/MOD with intermodal trip planning, transit ticketing, and payment capabilities. Our advanced platform integrates regional traffic data and sensors like cameras and DMS into its trip planning engine. It includes active demand management strategies like behavioural economics to influence app users to adopt more sustainable mobility behaviours that reduce driving dependencies. We believe our approach will be a cornerstone of transportation in the future.”