The Business Travel Magazine Oct/Nov 2019

Ground transport / Tech & tools
And, as API connectivity improves, the
industry is likely to see more ground
transportation content integrated into
booking systems.
American Express Global Business
Travel's Content & Distribution Manager,
Alexandrea Coughlin, says: “The growth of
disruptors such as Uber and Lyft has helped
put the spotlight on ground transport
within managed travel programmes.
“They generated wide-ranging discussions
around servicing and safety issues, which
meant travel managers increasingly focus
on the whole sector, the levels of
fragmentation within it, and where visibility
and management could be improved.”
Amex GBT launched its ground platform
last year in partnership with Mozio. The
company says it brings chauffeur drivers,
taxis, airport express trains and shuttles,
plus ride-sharing via a deal with Lyft, to a
single booking and management app.
The TMC believes the platform not only
helps travel managers by providing spend
visibility on ground transport and
consolidating bookings in one place, but
also assists travellers by encouraging them
to book in one place.
Out and about
Paul Wait, Commercial Director of iGO, a
marketplace for ground transportation
developed by Autocab, says the platform
is trying to support TMCs by bringing the
on-demand element into managed travel.
He feels that while Uber for Business
has started to address this through its
integrations with expense management
specialists Chrome River and SAP Concur,
the move only takes care of bookings in
major towns and cities.
Wait says the company is adding more
partners up and down the country as well
as beyond the UK to provide travellers with
more options.
In an ideal world, a single global solution
for ground transportation would exist but
much the same as with local technology
providers and payment solutions, there
are different providers for transport in
different countries and regions.
That said, there is an increasing trend
towards Mobility as a Service (MaaS)
whereby different forms of transport –
public, on-demand taxis, trains and even
scooters – are aggregated in a single place
or app. Again, this is being driven by
consumer demand for convenience.
A number of cities in Europe are working
on the trend in the belief that betterquality
information coupled with ease of
use will drive up usage. Examples include
Whim, launched by MaaS Global in Helsinki
in late 2016, and Jelbi, launched more
recently in Berlin.
The Whim initiative aims to connect many
of the Finnish capital’s mobility options in
one application and allows users to plan,
book and pay for those options, ranging
from public transport to taxis, car hire and
car-sharing.
Jelbi, meanwhile, is a service that brings
together mobility providers in Berlin on
to one mobile application. It has been
developed by the city’s public transport
provider BVG and mobility technology
startup Trafi. These are positive developments
from the point of view of the user
and should encourage transport providers,
both public and private, to share data and
collaborate more.
Bishop, from the Gray Dawes Group, says
different modes of transport, especially
rail, are now being integrated into booking
systems. He says the company has access
to both UK rail and Amtrak in the US and
that European rail should be added by the
end of this year.
He adds that while the company would
also like to widen out the offering with
European airport rail shuttles such as the
S Bahn in Germany and the Arlanda
Express in Sweden, it is a more complex
ask technologically.
Going forward, expect more integration
and more content partnerships as travel
management companies and their
technology suppliers move to bring more
choice to the traveller, increase control
and gain spend visibility.
There is a trend
towards Mobility as
a Service (MaaS) whereby
different forms of transport
– public, on-demand taxis,
trains and even scooters – are
aggregated in a single place”
62 THEBUSINESSTRAVELMAG.com