Chronicles of Build, Scale, Repeat With Blaise Transit
Since meeting at Techstars Montréal AI Accelerator in 2019, we’ve worked with Blaise Transit to provide them with the product leadership consulting, coaching, advice and support they need to bring their entire technical roadmap to the next level.
Built on pillars of sustainability, innovation and inclusion, Blaise Transit improves and optimizes the user experience for multi-passenger vehicles fleet operators. Founded in 2018 with a mission to make public buses the most convenient transportation solution, Blaise Transit uses an AI-based software platform enabling transit agencies to run on-demand bus services using existing vehicle fleets and bus stops. This technology provides shorter and more flexible bus journeys while increasing the cost-recovery ratio.
The Product Strategy: How We’ve Helped Blaise Transit
Ever since our work together began, we’ve been able to support Blaise Transit to achieve its product mission: boost the efficiency of mass transportation and balance the transport of commuters and passengers in multiple cities using an AI-based platform and predictive intelligence dashboard.
We helped the team define and implement the following strategies and corresponding tactics, allowing them to use metrics to support the progress of each one:
- Innovation: Capitalizing on ingenuity by developing and introducing new product features and investing in scaling them to support growth. This also included streamlining operations and optimizing the turn-by-turn navigation.
- Footprint expansion: Growing and expanding into untapped territory. This included partnering with transit authorities by city size and geography.
- Cost Optimizations: Identifying and capitalizing on operating efficiencies and maintaining internal control. Outperform peers by focusing on better processes, cost-cutting, improved algorithm performance and a more productive workforce.
According to Justin Hunt, CEO at Blaise Transit, Bain Public has helped build their entire technical roadmap from the ground up:
"Before working with Bain Public, we had been developing our software without a clear direction of where we were headed. Since starting to work with them, our entire team has visibility on what we’re building, why we’re building it and what’s coming up next on the roadmap. This has been incredibly valuable for efficiently allocating resources, prioritizing features and allowing us to show a clear vision to potential investors."
Growth and Innovation During the COVID-19 Crisis
Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, a vast number of commuters now have to work from home to prevent the spread of the virus. Transit agencies have had to reduce services, shorten routes and possibly suspend collecting fares to minimize contact between operators and passengers.
In this current climate, global public transportation ridership has gone down by more than 80% throughout European and U.S. cities since January 2020. Highly populated cities have had to adopt strict measures to combat the virus. While this has been challenging, it has also provided the opportunity to rethink how everyone fits into the road network.
Transit agencies are looking now more than ever at optimizing their operations due to the drastic decrease in public transportation usage. In the face of this crisis, Blaise Transit has been able to adapt its services to recent health and safety measures, adding new features to maintain passenger safety. This includes introducing passenger limits, COVID-19 symptom surveys, contact tracing and prevention reminders.
See here for more on Blaise Transit’s COVID-19 on-demand solutions and analytics tools.
Other Companies We’ve Worked With
As we’ve helped Blaise Transit to build their technical roadmap, we’ve also worked with some other companies to assist in combating their product development challenges. Check out the articles below to see how our product management, consultancy and coaching support paved the way to success.
Thanks to Loren O’Brien-Egesborg and Gabrielle Drouin for reading drafts of this article and overseeing aspects of its publication. Also, if you have any feedback or criticism about this article, then shoot us an email info@bainpublic.com.
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