UK: A five‑year Department for Transport‑funded trial of the Breeze app, described as the UK’s first fully integrated, multi‑city Mobility‑as‑a‑Service transport app, is to end on October 31, with the platform closing to users.
The trial covered buses, trains, e-scooters, e-bikes, ferries and hovercraft across Portsmouth, Southampton, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
The planning, booking and payment app was developed by Lithuanian company Trafi, with Unicard and Behavioural Insights developing the ticketing features.
The Solent Transport partnership of Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Southampton councils reports that there were 50 000 downloads of the app, and 65% of users used it at least once a week. Breeze users reduced their car use by 3%, increased their use of public transport by 2·5% and were on average 76% more aware of the transport options available to them. Integrating rail ticketing from decision to first sale took 1½ years, against an industry norm of three to four years.
Following the conclusion of the trial, Solent Transport will present a comprehensive evaluation report documenting the outcomes, learnings and recommendations to the Department for Transport and its local authority partners.
