Affordable, Convenient And Reliable On Demand Public Transport

Location:

Sydney, Australia

BACKGROUND

Hillsbus MetroConnect is a subsidiary of ComfortDelGro, one of the largest land transport companies with a total fleet size of about 42,300 buses, taxis and rental vehicles. The MetroConnect service taps on SWAT Mobility’s technology and uses smaller Hino Poncho buses to resolve the first-and-last-mile commuter transport challenge.

SWAT’s technology has allowed us to provide a personalised and responsive service for the residents of North-West Sydney. The well-designed mobile applications and ongoing service enhancements have ensured that we continue to evolve to meet our customer’s commute needs.

_{- Ravinder Singh, GM Innovation and Organisational Development, ComfortDelGro Australia}

‍THE CHALLENGE

In May 2019, the new Metro line was opened to serve the residents in North West Sydney, but commuters found that there was a lack of connecting services to these stations. Our client, along with Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW) who is the transport and roads agency of the New South Wales Government, was tasked to provide transport for the residents of a selected geofence from their homes to the nearby Metro stations in a sustainable manner.

This task was also in-line with the broader government goals of encouraging greater public transport use, minimising the need for car park occupancy and thereby reducing emissions.

THE SOLUTION

White-labelled app to book a ride for the Hillsbus MetroConnect service

MetroConnect was designed to enhance connectivity for the residents in North West Sydney within a selected geofence. SWAT Mobility worked in partnership with CDC Hillsbus to design and launch a service which allows residents to book an on-demand ride to or from pre-defined hub stops to their homes and back, enabling seamless connections.

It is important that the service is reliable, convenient and affordable for residents’ daily use. Our post-ride rating for the service is currently at 4.96/5, indicating that riders are enjoying the service. Integrating with OpalConnect, TfNSW’s ticketing solution and trusted digital account that allows users to earn travel credits, has enabled rides to be extremely affordable. Lastly, our on-demand service has almost 4 times the number of stops compared to the fixed routes previously, and riders only walk on average 115m to get to their stops.

A survey conducted in 2019 showed that if MetroConnect was not available, 1 in 20 users would not have been able to make their trips to school or work easily. Feedback from users have been very positive, with Bev, a rider, stating,