Digital travel assistant Gaiyo now available in Utrecht
The first nationwide pilot of “Mobility as a Service” (Maas) starts today with the launch of the travel app Gaiyo in the Utrecht neighbourhoods Leidsche Rijn and Vleuten-De Meern. With the app, users can easily find out the transport possibilities available close by, then plan, book and pay for their journey in advance.
Use a single app to plan all your trips
Gaiyo is like a personal travel assistant: it gives a real-time overview of all the travel possibilities and combinations available, complete with departure and arrival, travel time and costs. It covers all varieties of transport – from public transit (train, tram and bus) to shared vehicles (bicycle, electric scooter and car sharing). The app also shows you the times for making connections to public transit. Finally, the app also shows the travel time by car, the traffic congestion and the costs of parking. This allows the user to see which mode of transport is faster and cheaper at any given moment of the day.
Accessibility of Utrecht’s Leidsche Rijn and Vleuten-De Meern
The Utrecht neighbourhoods Leidsche Rijn and Vleuten-De Meern were consciously chosen to start the pilot because this is a fast-growing region where car ownership and use is relatively high. Another 105,000 residents will be living here by 2030, which has certain consequences for the living conditions and accessibility of Utrecht.
"With this app, people can easily choose how they want to travel. We hope that residents will choose to go by bike or public transit more often, rather than by car. This would help to keep the city liveable and accessible."
Lot van Hooijdonk | city alderman for Mobility
Access to all modes of transport
The travel app links different kinds of transport, which means people only have to register once and they can pay for all transport via the app. “It is our mission to keep cities liveable and accessible for everyone,” says CEO and founder of app developer Innovactory, Lucien Groenhuijzen. “We are very happy to be able to offer this app to the residents of Leidsche Rijn and Vleuten-De Meern first. Our experience with the previous trial tells us that people in this part of Utrecht will discover the added value of Gaiyo right away”.
Smart Mobility
Gaiyo is from the Japanese word Gaiyō, which means overview, and has already been tested by 150 users, but then under the old name Tripps. This trial revealed that, thanks to the app, people have a tendency to leave the car at home more often and choose alternative types of transport because they are faster or cheaper.
"That means that Gaiyo fits seamlessly within our Smart Mobility programme. We want to use smart technologies to stimulate healthier, cleaner and safer travel in the province of Utrecht."
Arne Schaddelee | representative for mobility for the province of Utrecht
One of seven nationwide pilots
Gaiyo is the first of seven pilots of “Mobility as a Service” (Maas) to go live. The trial in Utrecht of the digital travel assistant is expected to run until the end of 2021. Starting today, the app can be downloaded from the App Store or Google Play.
The trial in Utrecht and other trials in the rest of the Netherlands are an initiative of the government to investigate, together with market parties, whether service in the area of mobility catches on with users, is commercially viable, and contributes to policy objectives. The privacy-proof data acquired through the app will help the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, Maas providers and transport providers together find out how the mobility system can be optimised. The contributes to making our residential areas more liveable, among other things by reducing CO2, traffic congestion, and peak pressure on public transit.
In Utrecht the pilot falls under the programme called “Goedopweg” (Well on your way), a collaboration between the province, the municipalities of Utrecht and Amersfoort, Rijkswaterstaat and the ministry aimed at improving the region’s accessibility, and its living and working environment.
Download the press photo here.
