Avego Tackles Problems of Road Congestion with Transportation Apps

Anyone who has driven down I-95 on the East Coast or the 405 on the West Coast can certainly attest to the fact that car congestion on highways is quickly becoming a critical problem. And despite traffic becoming more ubiquitous, automobiles are still remaining far too empty as commuters scoff at the idea of carpooling.

Fortunately for all the eco-friendly individuals out there, Avego – a global provider of software, hardware and professional services – is working on improving the efficiency of passenger transportation.

“We are revolutionizing the daily commute,” Paul Steinberg, director of Americas for Avego, told TMCnet. “We provide real-time information to match up commuters with a viable way of commuting – whether it’s carpooling, buses and even vans.”

Founded in 2007, Avego is a multinational company that works to make transportation more efficient by equipping consumers with information about viable transportation options. The company boasts three downloadable apps that provide information on the transit industry.

With the applications, customers can see where busses are in real time and determine when the next transportation service is coming at a particular location. Moreover, users can book car rides online using any Web-enabled mobile phone by entering a start and destination location. Avego will then automatically match you with any driver on that route with a spare seat.

“We can provide a reliable guaranteed service of available seats,” Steinberg said. “We are not talking about carpooling alone. We are talking about carpooling, vanpooling and buses. We are trying to leverage this wasted capacity, this wasted commodity that floats down our street.”

Avego’s customers include the Transport for London, the Ministries of Transport for the UK and the Netherlands, the European Space Agency, cities and public transport operators from Dublin to Madrid, and thousands of individual consumers and private transport operators.

According to Avego, despite the increased amount of traffic on the roads, people seldom opt to carpool. For example the Bay Area in California has the largest number of people who have opted to carpool, at 20,000, yet that number is still only less than one percent of the population. In fact, carpooling nationally happens for less than 15 percent of the population.

Avego was founded on the premise of having millions of consumers use its products to match themselves real time with empty seats.

“Even if we are running on alternative fuel, congestion is only going to continue to get worse,” Steinberg said. “No matter what the power source of the vehicles, we must change our habits.”

Avego is hoping to start changing habits at the upcoming ITS World Congress held in Orlando, Fla., from October 16-20. Avego has been selected as the official transportation partner of the 18th annual event and will offer Avego-powered transport services, including a free airport shuttle service to all conference attendees, and Real-time Ridesharing to select Orlando destinations. Avego will see to it that all attendees get to the conference car free in an effort to spread the word about the importance of carpooling and reducing congestion, according to Steinberg.

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