I think what Boston [entrepreneurs need] to do more is tackle bigger problems that really affect society. Big, logistical stuff might not be as sexy, but it has a major impact. … More ‘go-for-the-moon’ companies.
Matthew George, the 23-year old innovator behind pop-up mass transit bus company Bridj, shared the aforementioned soundbite with me over tea at Kendall Square’s Voltage Café last week.
To some, George's call-to-action might be met with skepticism. He’s high-energy and ambitious, yet young, fresh out of Middlebury College with a degree in biology. While impressive, his experience working as an EMT and internship at the White House isn’t the traditional background of an entrepreneur.
“I wasn’t one of those people who came out of the womb, saying ‘I’m going to start a tech company,’” admitted George.
But he’s doing it anyway, and the fresh perspective seems to be working in his favor.
What started as a college bus-focused company has now become a bid for the future of public transit. And, with the help of an all-star analyst team and around $3 million in funding, his company GroupZOOM is well-poised to seriously shake up the space, starting with Boston’s Bridj program. On June 2nd, the company will host a 300-user launch with three bus routes running between Brookline, Boston and Cambridge.
In brief, Bridj is putting millions of data points together to create a smart mass transportation system that’s both more convenient and cheaper for the public.
“If you’re artificially limiting people’s jobs based on their geography, that’s what leads to gentrification, and shit like a Kendall Square apartment going for $3,800."
“There’s two ends of the spectrum in mass transportation,” George told me. On one side, there’s the MBTA, which is low-cost, around $2 a ride and low convenience. On the other is car owners, or car services – Zipcar, Uber, Lyft and Sidecar – which represent high-cost, are approximately $13 on average and boast high convenience.
Bridj seeks to strike in the middle, quite literally. Using walk time data, Bridj’s algorithm finds a central point – approximately five minutes away from all users – in a given location. Every 10 minutes or so, a charter bus will roll up to said spot to pick up a load of passengers, who will pay around $6 to $8 to have Bridj take them along the route.
People will be able to buy daily, weekly or monthly passes, all accessible via Bridj's iPhone and Android app, said George. Bridj has also partnered with the transportation organization Route 128 Business Council and other companies in the Boston area, to offer the service to their employees.
The routes are also user-generated. People sign up for Bridj online, and plug in their home and work ZIP codes. Combining user demand data with traffic patterns and key events, like a Red Sox game, sourced from social media and around the web, Bridj’s software adds and switches up routes in real-time. The more people using Bridj, the smarter the system and the routes become.
The result: Your morning trip from Coolidge Corner to Kendall Square, which originally took nearly an hour by T, is now only 18 minutes.
“Rather than providing just a nice bus and nice user experience, we’re doing something that’s really game-changing. We’re giving people an hour of their life back,” explained George.
Like Uber, Bridj doesn’t own or operate any of its vehicles, instead using local private bus companies, like Academy Bus. Eventually, all buses will have outlets and free Wi-Fi, which is just “icing on the cake” for users, said George.
“If we’re doing our job right, our users will never know how much work goes into it. They’ll just have this magical experience,” shared the executive.
Bridj is bigger than a better user experience, however. The program stands to open up new job opportunities to those limited by their current location. Only about 30 percent of jobs are available to the average citizen in a given metro due to transportation limitations, according to a recent report by the Brookings Institute. “If you’re artificially limiting people’s jobs based on their geography, that’s what leads to gentrification, and shit like a Kendall Square apartment going for $3,800,” explained George.
A lack of access to reliable transportation means people are limited to jobs only accessible by walking, biking or public transit options, which is “a pretty high economic cap for people,” added the entrepreneur.
Changing the game of public transit is a tall order. Fortunately, Bridj is building a high-powered team of experts – the kind of "people whose life thesis is making transportation more effective," shared George. MIT Transit Lab data scientist David Block-Schachter was at the MBTA just five months before departing to join Bridj’s effort. Former advisor to MassChallenge and The Grommet and RelayRides COO Desmond Pieri recently jumped on Bridj’s team as its chief operating officer, as well. The company also hired Boston University-trained attorney and Startup Institute grad Ryan Kelly as its marketing manager.
The team is 13 people going on 25, and currently working out of the 15th floor at the Cambridge Innovation Center and an office in Burlington, Vermont. Though eager to expand, the Bridj crew is just fine taking its time being selective about new hires. “We want to bring on the top one-percent of the world," said George.
The company, which aims to raise around $3 million, is being picky about term sheets, too. GroupZOOM and Bridj’s innovative model has garnered the attention of numerous investors and governments in other cities and countries, claimed George.
Once Bridj closes the round and is up and running in Boston, the company will set its sights on three East Coast cities, two West Coast, as well as three international cities, shared George.
“We can either come directly into the city as a third party provider, or we’re actively open to having discussions directly integrate this into the public transportation systems themselves,” said George. They’ll be announcing a new city every month or so after they stabilize in Boston. Added George, in closing:
This is something we're going to scale really rapidly ... It's ours to lose at this point. We have the best team, the best backing and essentially a blank check from a lot of investors. We're going to go really, really big, really, really quickly.
Image & Video via Bridj
