Mobility services company Passport has announced a US$5m investment to expand its platform, which helps connect multiple modes of transportation and payments, and provides a way for cities to understand, manage and collaborate with an increasingly complex ecosystem of travel options.
Originally developed as a smartphone-based parking payment system, Passport’s product lines now include parking, transit and tolling payments, parking enforcement and permit management, which enable more than 450 organizations in the public and private sectors worldwide to streamline their operations, enhance customer service, and make data-driven decisions.
Passport has over 50 existing integrations with some of the largest mobility technology providers, such as Cubic, Inrix, Transcore, Conduent, Parkmobile, and WorldPay, and with this new investment, the company is looking to bolster its platform and enable cities to connect additional services, such as rideshare and dockless scooter and bike services, as well as any other new technologies that are introduced in the future such as autonomous vehicles.
As part of its expansion program, Passport has also announced an increased investment into the UK and the opening of a new London office. The company’s expansion into the UK marketplace follows a successful mobile cashless payment program with Westminster City Council in the UK capital, that went live in 2017.
By delivering tailored solutions to local governments and private organizations, Passport says it will be providing an end-to-end mobility platform that has yet to be seen in the UK market. By enabling a more flexible way to extract data-driven insights from multiple systems, and then allowing organizations to act upon them in real time, the Passport platform is one of the first in the industry to give the municipal leaders the power to effectively manage their cities from one platform.
“We have heard from hundreds of cities across the world and they told us they continue to struggle to manage their curbside assets and create an environment that can handle, and even encourage, new modes of transportation,” said Bob Youakim, Passport’s CEO.
“That’s why we developed the Passport, which helps municipalities connect their mobility data, extract insights about the utilization of public space, and provide an interface to make and communicate operational changes in real time across each connected system. This can dramatically improve a city’s ability to accommodate the rapid pace of on-street innovation and makes it simpler and more predictable to deploy new technologies to improve urban mobility.”
Youakim continued, “Like other forms of transportation, one of the best-proven ways to manage micro-mobility services will be the implementation of parking-like rules and policies like cities use for on-street parking. Paid parking systems are well-understood, effective, proportional, and flexible.
“We have deep expertise, having already helped over 450 clients manage business rules, collect payment, and ensure compliance through our platform. The same framework makes it easier for cities and mobility providers to work together to come up with mutually beneficial, usage-based pricing that balances the need for innovation with the need for consistency.”
