In Chongqing, the traditional road networks are most conducive to transportation in smaller vehicles. Bandwagon is a solution for most fully utilizing road and vehicle capacity, particularly for vehicles with carrying capacities under 10 passengers. We’re currently working with taxis throughout the world, but for Chongqing, Bandwagon has modified its application — so it is optimized for small shared van transportation.
What if we could combine commuters into a single vehicle—like public transit, but in a more convenient way? Then we could significantly reduce congestion and carrying capacity, without overspending on infrastructure rehabilitation.
The advantage of working within road networks is that Bandwagon can quickly and easily connect modes of transportation that would otherwise be inaccessible to one another. Rather than building expensive infrastructure connecting train to airport, or rail to metro, Bandwagon Rideshare can be quickly deployed to move people efficiently between unconnected modes of transit.
Bandwagon does just this. Bandwagon has built solutions that connect train, airport, and conference centers with other modes of transit and city centers, significantly (and efficiently) improving the overall physical connectivity of transportation networks. It's an app and a website you can use to book a van in advance—to the airport, out of town, anywhere—and find others who want to share it with you. It can come in hardware form too: a kiosk that sits at the taxi stand at the airport, convention center, or sporting event, allowing strangers to connect with each other in real time and share their rides home.
The OpenXC platform would enable Bandwagon to further monitor and minimize overall fuel consumption and carbon emissions of vehicles in its operating fleet—fore-fronting this information for our energy conscious customers. Making all Ford vehicles in Chongqing, available to participate in this new, and quickly available mode of responsive transportation.
Launched in 2013, Bandwagon is based at the Urban Future Lab, an innovative cleantech incubator in downtown Brooklyn powered by an unprecedented partnership between NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering and The City and State of New York. Bandwagon has received accolades from the Intelligent Transportation Society of America, New York City's BigApps, Ultralight Startup’s Future Energy Competition, Verizon, and others. Bandwagon’s mission is to make transportation more efficient and affordable by making use of all the networks that bind our cities and neighborhoods together — networks of people, infrastructure, and information. Bandwagon unites our need for mobility, the necessity of saving money, and a responsibility to use resources efficiently.
Bandwagon won the 2013 Verizon Powerful Answers Award in the sustainability category. Bandwagon is offering “sustainable, accessible mobility” with a goal to do “more with less” to improve upon current infrastructure issues.
Bandwagon has recently partnered with United Airlines to make sharing taxis and splitting fares to and from Newark Airport easier than ever. United Airlines customers can save up to 60% on rides by sharing with Bandwagon. Shared rides reduce costs, congestion, and pollution, and give Newark Airport’s swelling taxi fleet an eco-efficient upgrade.
Bandwagon was also awarded a $75,000 grant by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). This grant was given to improve traffic management. Bandwagon has worked with researchers at Columbia University, New York University and several New York City agencies to develop an open database management system that pools sources of electronic information on traffic flow in order to promote traffic data accessibility, improve traffic management, increase traffic efficiency and reduce fuel use due to traffic delays.
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