Moonbility

For parents with young children, we know firsthand how challenging traveling can be—especially during the busy festival season. Finding space for a buggy on public transport can feel like a gamble. But it shouldn’t be this complicated. That’s why we started WheelsOnBoard—a project that helps train and bus operators provide real-time wheelchair bay status, making travel easier for passengers with reduced mobility, including buggy users. These insights will also feed into our disruption impact platform, enabling operators to offer more proactive support. 🎥 Watch the video to learn how this could change the way we all travel.

In the last 10 weeks, we’ve been working with London North Eastern Railway, Northern, TransPennine Express, and Southeastern Railway to make train disruptions less painful and much more communicative. We’re kicking things off with the East Coast Main Line, bringing in ideas from all four operators, and gearing up to support the Great British Railways Transition Team (GBRTT) network. Can’t wait to showcase what we’ve achieved together on demo day. Exciting times ahead!

In the last 10 weeks, we’ve been working with London North Eastern Railway, Northern, TransPennine Express, and Southeastern Railway to make train disruptions less painful and much more communicative. We’re kicking things off with the East Coast Main Line, bringing in ideas from all four operators, and gearing up to support the Great British Railways Transition Team (GBRTT) network. Can’t wait to showcase what we’ve achieved together on demo day. Exciting times ahead!

Today marks week 8 of Future Labs! On this occasion, we are thrilled to feature Moonbility in our startup spotlight: Moonbility are an AI tech startup with proprietary self-healing algorithms that in this instance work with weak datasets to predict railway disruptions and provide alternative plans, minimising the impact on customers. 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐅𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐛𝐬. One of our team members saw a post from Ross on LinkedIn. After discussing it within the senior management team, we realised we had a great product fit for the program and decided to pitch. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲? Our solution aims to improve the customer experience during disruption. However, it must consider the complex ecosystem of existing systems and processes. The Future Labs team has been instrumental in helping us navigate this, ensuring our solution respects these complexities. 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐛𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐞? We need validation to ensure our product is accurate and appropriate for both passengers and internal use. Establishing the correct use case and supporting metrics is critical. Without the right metrics, there’s no business case or long-term contract opportunity. Therefore, our key objective is to validate the output metrics to demonstrate value. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬? Ideas into practice. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐰, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧? In two years, we envision our product being fully integrated into the UK rail information system, providing trusted, impactful information to help customers make better decisions during disruptions. Find out more about this year's cohort here: https://lnkd.in/gTPxDHXG

Since starting my journey in transport 🚄 🚌 🚚, I’ve witnessed the transformative power of open-source data in advancing the industry and enhancing passenger experiences. Excited to share that I’ve joined The Alan Turing Institute as an Expert in Residence (EiR), alongside Veronica Chang. Over the coming months, we’ll be exploring new AI use cases in public transport, working with talented academics and industry experts across disciplines. We’ll be adopting The Turing Way—a community-driven approach to reproducible, ethical, inclusive, and collaborative research. If you’re interested in co-authoring papers on AI, public transport, or digital twins, feel free to drop me a line! Remember to give Moonbility a follow if you have not! And massive thanks Arielle Bennett-Lovell and Malvika Sharan for arranging the launch event which we were gutted we had to miss.

🎉 Chuffed to bits that we’ve bagged the 🏆 Gold Award 🏆 at the Department for Transport (DfT), United Kingdom Data Science Conference, working alongside Google Cloud and PA Consulting. Helping people with reduced mobility by giving them the information they need to feel more confident using public transport is a big part of what we do at Moonbility. So, I’m buzzing that the prototype we built using computer vision techniques got noticed by stakeholders who share our passion for making UK transport more accessible for everyone. 🚌 🚉 ♿️ Massive thanks to the dream team—Matthew Gilmour, Rick Bruce, and Craig Taylor from Ito World, and of course, myself for repping Moonbility. And a big shoutout to those who couldn’t be there yesterday—👍🏼Marcus Mayers, Veronica Chang, Kun Yu Tsai, and kiran baby. As Rick said 📢, "When you get the right people together, good things happen!" Couldn’t have put it better myself!

Thank Ground Transport Group for highlighting our new initiative to improve accessibility for intermodal journeys! ♿️ 🚉 🚌

Moonbility is partnering with National Express Bus to trial WheelsOnboard - a new technology initiative helping to make intermodal journeys more accessible for passengers with reduced mobility: https://ow.ly/CNe250TkY0W The trial highlights a collaboration aimed at enhancing accessibility and convenience across public transport systems. Moonbility is Innovate UK funded and supported by Geovation, an Ordnance Survey initiative in association with HM Land Registry.

Today marks the beginning of an exciting partnership with National Express Bus! 🚌 🎉 Transport should always be more accessible, especially for people with reduced mobility. As a region known for innovation, the West Midlands will be the setting for our trial of the digital twin tool, aimed at improving communication on the real-time status of wheelchair bays. This initiative is a step towards making public transport more inclusive and user-friendly for all. Excited to see the positive impact this collaboration will bring to the community. Adam Rideout, Head of Customer Experience at National Express Bus, said: "As a leading public transport operator, we are continually seeking solutions to enhance our service quality and passenger experience. Involvement in this project aligns with our vision to support the diverse needs of all passengers, fostering a more inclusive community within our bus network." Chris Lane, Head of Transport Innovation at Transport for West Midlands, West Midlands Combined Authority, said: "Individuals with reduced mobility, such as wheelchair users and parents with prams, often experience uncertainty about the availability of accessible spaces on public transport. This can lead to increased anxiety and may discourage travel. To promote greater confidence and encourage independent travel, TfWM is pleased to support this project aimed at addressing this issue." Fun time ahead! More details: https://rb.gy/2x4549 #Accessibility #TransportInnovation #Inclusion #Mobility #DigitalTwin #DisruptionCommunication #DisruptionManagement

West Midlands green transport innovators secure funding and support 🤝🪙 Connected Places Catapult, the UK’s innovation accelerator for cities, transport, and place leadership, has announced 19 small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) selected to join the Clean Futures accelerator programme in the West Midlands. Now in its second year, the accelerator has already supported 20 SMEs through the first year’s cohort. 18 out of 20 companies participating in the first year have entered serious discussions with new customers about their innovations. £2.6 million has so far been secured for SMEs through contracts or research and development funding; with a further £43 million in the commercial pipeline. So far, £1.3 million has been raised in private investment, with a further £27 million pending. Continue reading... https://lnkd.in/dF2aEWkV Alucast Ltd, Composite Braiding Ltd, EnginSoft UK, Extend Robotics, GBR-Rail Ltd, Geospatial Ventures Limited, Grinsty Rail Limited, LiBatt Recycling Ltd, MOLE, Moasure®, Moonbility, OX Delivers, Raeon, Taraz Metrology Ltd, Treeva, Unipart Manufacturing Group, Vanguard Sustainable Transport Solutions #transport #technology #innovation #sustainability #finance #investing #westmidsnews #westmidshour #businessnews #businessintelligence