Tummoc and Namma Yatri will be working with Bengaluru public transport agencies to deploy their solutions across the city
Bengaluru, (August 22, 2024): Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India (MBRDI), WRI India, and Villgro today announced Tummoc and Namma Yatri as the winners of ‘Enroute: A Mobility-as-a-Service Challenge’. The winners will leverage Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) and Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited’s (BMRCL) open General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) data to develop solutions that ease daily commutes in the city.
Tummoc is a multi-modal connectivity and ticketing application, which aims to integrate journey planning, real-time data, and public transport ticketing in Bengaluru. Namma Yatri, a ride-hailing app based out of Bengaluru, aims to create a unified journey booking with a single QR code.
The two winners of the Enroute challenge will receive seed funding from MBRDI to develop and pilot their solutions city-wide. The deployment and demonstration of pilot solutions are expected to start by December 2024. Enroute’s program partners will provide mentorship and implementation support to all the teams for designing and implementing the pilots.
The challenge, which launched a call for innovative public transport solutions in June this year, is being conducted in partnership with Government of Karnataka (IT&BT), BMRCL, BMTC, Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT), MBRDI, WRI India and Villgro. Out of the 75 applications received, six enterprises made it to the final shortlist. The winning solutions, selected by an esteemed jury of government officials, private sector organisations, and citizen groups, will provide Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) solutions to encourage more people to use public transport in Bengaluru. Enroute is an extension of MBRDI’s 15-Minute Neighborhood vision that promotes digital solutions to enable sustainable cities with integrated mobility at the core.
Dr. Ekroop Caur, IAS, Secretary, Department of Electronics, IT/BT and S&T, said, “Enroute: A Mobility-As-A-Service Challenge is a significant step towards transforming Bengaluru’s public transportation landscape. Karnataka and Bengaluru are leading lights for tech innovation and startup ecosystem. We are pleased to support startups leveraging cutting-edge technology and GTFS open data to create seamless, efficient, and user-friendly mobility solutions that will enhance last-mile connectivity and encourage greater use of public transport. We are excited to see the impactful solutions this innovation challenge will bring to our city.”
Speaking at the announcement, Ms. Shilpa M, IAS, IT Director, BMTC, said, “BMTC is thrilled to collaborate with the innovative minds behind the Enroute challenge. For the first time, we are able to make BMTC data available in a global open data standard (GTFS). We hope the winning enterprises can successfully integrate open data into their solutions, enhancing the reliability and convenience of multi-modal public transport to make daily commutes smoother and reliable for Namma Bengaluru. We look forward to seeing these solutions in action, creating a more connected and digitally accessible transport network attracting a new generation of commuters to the bus.”
Ms. Kalpana Kataria, IRS, Executive Director, BMRCL, said at the event, “BMRCL is committed to fostering innovation that enhances the public transport (PT) experience in Bengaluru. Today’s presentations have demonstrated that user-friendly solutions can be built for last-mile connectivity using PT and other modes of transport helping the commuters in making informed decisions after considering the time and money involved in a particular trip. Last-mile connectivity has always been an opportunity to grow, and we are counting on these innovations to bridge the gap. We are happy to provide the metro-related data to help these startups to come up with useful solutions.”
Bengaluru is India’s fourth most populous city and attracts people from across the country. However, the rapid urbanisation of Bengaluru has posed several challenges for the city, primarily in the form of sprawl, longer commutes, and growing traffic congestion, reducing access to destinations and mobility, and straining essential infrastructure. While the government has invested in augmenting and upgrading its public transport infrastructure and services, its full benefits can only be derived by better multimodal integration and information dissemination, which the Enroute challenge aims to address through open data innovation.
For more information about the Enroute challenge, visit: https://enroute.villgro.org
Access DULT’s open data portal at: https://tdh.dult-karnataka.com
Program Partner Quotes:
Manu Saale, Managing Director and CEO, Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India said, “Enroute has truly unleashed our country’s innovation potential by bringing together some of the brightest minds to enhance the mobility experience in Bengaluru. We congratulate the winners for their passion and ingenuity. By supporting these ideas, we are investing in efficient, accessible mobility solutions that can improve urban commutes and inspire smarter, connected transport systems across the country.”
Pawan Mulukutla, Executive Director- Integrated Transport, Clean Air & Hydrogen, WRI India, said, “The Enroute challenge is a testament to the power of data-driven innovation in transforming urban mobility. We congratulate BMTC and BMRCL for taking a big step forward in opening up public transport data, and we commend DULT for hosting this data and making it accessible. This data is essential for startups to develop solutions that are deeply informed by real-world patterns and user needs. It is important to recognise the crucial role that data and research play in creating sustainable, efficient, and inclusive transport systems. We are excited to support these startups as they leverage this data to drive impactful change in Bengaluru’s mobility landscape.”
Ananth Aravamudan, Chief of Programs & Strategy, Villgro Innovations Foundation said,
“The Enroute challenge is a significant step forward for the city of Bengaluru to make transportation more accessible and sustainable. We are excited to collaborate with these innovative startups, who are leveraging real-time data to create Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) solutions. Our goal is to provide them with the necessary support to develop and implement these solutions, making public transport more convenient for citizens. By uniting key stakeholders, we aim to revolutionise how people navigate our city, making it smarter and more accessible for everyone.”
About WRI India
India Resources Trust, an independent charity referred to as “WRI India”, provides objective information and practical proposals to foster environmentally sound and socially equitable development. Our work focuses on building sustainable and livable cities and working towards a low carbon economy. Through research, analysis, and recommendations, WRI India puts ideas into action to build transformative solutions to protect the earth, promote livelihoods, and enhance human well-being. We are inspired by World Resources Institute (WRI), a global research organisation. Know more: https://wri-india.org/
About Villgro
Villgro is India’s foremost impact-first incubator with expertise in 4 sectors – Healthcare, Agriculture, Climate Action, and Inclusive Livelihoods and Entrepreneurship (previously Gender Inclusion). Our mission is to make innovative, impactful businesses succeed. Since 2001, Villgro has supported 387 social enterprises that have raised over INR 4.7 billion in investments, created 8175 jobs and impacted over 20.8 million lives. Villgro was recognised as the “Top Incubator” in India by Invest India (DPIIT, GoI) in 2020 and won the DivHERsity awards in 2022 and ‘23.
About Mercedes-Benz Research & Development India
Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India (MBRDI) is the largest research and development centre for Mercedes-Benz Group AG outside of Germany. Established in 1996, MBRDI plays a prominent role in the development of technologies like connected, autonomous, and electric in the world of mobility. With offices in Bengaluru and Pune, MBRDI currently employs over 8,500 professionals engaged in digital product development, interior component design, IT engineering and services.
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