Flink – SBB · SUGAR project 2018/19

The project · from brief to prototype

What happened, step by step.

01

Challenge

Swiss mobility providers offer services that are poorly connected, and there is no central source of information. SBB asked the team to radically shape tomorrow's mobility information, so travellers can use the options that already exist.

02

What the team learned

Commuters lack one place for information across transport modes, an overview of their mobility options and trips that are not fragmented. Daily commuters need easy planning and time efficiency.

03

What they built

Flink is a smartphone hub for mobility information. A customisable dashboard personalises the information stream, the Mobility Market plans trips across modes and manages subscriptions, and the app warns of delays early with alternatives. A local mobility hub offers services on site.

Full project text

The team’s original texts from the project page.

Flink is a digital information hub that grants travellers access to a whole ecosystem of information and experiences. It allows users to move seamlessly by unlocking the whole world of mobility with just a few clicks.

Challenge

Rapid innovations across industries will change the way people live and move. In the future, people will have countless opportunities to move between places. Travelers will be able to create their personal mobility mix that is perfectly adapted to their needs. However, reality still looks different. Various mobility providers are offering different services that are usually not connected very well. At the moment, there is no clear central information source regarding Swiss mobility and travelers cannot utilize the mobility opportunities that are already out there. Therefore, SBB assigned us with the challenge to radically shape tomorrow’s mobility information.

Solution

Flink is a digital information hub that provides travelers with free access to a whole ecosystem of mobility information and experiences beyond via their smartphone. Thereby, Flink can support 2.8 million commuters in Switzerland on their daily trips. Flink provides travelers with customized information streams at just a single glance and helps them to plan and optimize their journeys with just a few clicks. These information streams are highly adaptable to people’s individual contexts and empower them to overcome the uncertainty that always comes along with mobility by providing them with fast alternatives if something goes wrong on their journey.

Impact

Via Flink, people can access all information they need before, during, and after their journey. This information does not come in a generic way but is adapted to people’s individual circumstances and thereby offers them a highly personalized experience. Flink enables travelers to plan journeys involving different modes of transport and manage all their subscriptions in one place with just a few clicks. Even if something goes wrong, Flink informs travelers proactively and provides them with alternatives to continue their journey. Taking together, Flink facilitates people in daily life and enables them to experience mobility as it’s meant to be

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