Speaker 1: Slumenthal is head of Global Business Development, leading the company's
Speaker 1: Connected Citizens program. We're talking about the program at the
Speaker 1: navigation app Way. She joins us to talk about that program,
Speaker 1: and she joins us they're based in San Francisco. She's
Speaker 1: in New York today. She joins us on the phone
Speaker 1: in New York. Tell you nice to have you here
Speaker 1: with us. UM. We're all familiar with Ways, we probably
Speaker 1: most of us. If you've got a car, you've used
Speaker 1: their app for getting around. Tell us though about your
Speaker 1: Connected Citizens partners are Connecticut, I should say connected Connected
Speaker 1: Citizens program. Hi Carol, how are you? Thank you for
Speaker 1: having me UM? So WAYS has been has about UM
Speaker 1: five partners Now. We started the program in two and
Speaker 1: the first time that we that we started the program,
Speaker 1: the city of Rio reached out to us saying, hey,
Speaker 1: the Pope is coming in town. We need to tell
Speaker 1: all these people what are we going to do? And
Speaker 1: we turn to them and said, well, I think we
Speaker 1: can help UM and it was a huge success. We
Speaker 1: were able to inform people of road closures and keep
Speaker 1: the traffic safe. And from that point we started out
Speaker 1: with ten partners doing a free two weight data share.
Speaker 1: So we are sending UM. We are sending partners are
Speaker 1: real time way anonymous waiser generated information about closures, accident reports, etcetera.
Speaker 1: And then the partners are sending us anything that's relevant
Speaker 1: UM for real time traffic flow so that the road closures, accidents,
Speaker 1: major traffic events. So the program continues to grow. We're
Speaker 1: super excited. We're soon going to be announcing our partner
Speaker 1: UM and it's just really exciting just to see how
Speaker 1: much these cities have done with all all the data
Speaker 1: we're providing them. Well, what what this sounds like? Your
Speaker 1: Connecticut You're Connected Citizens program? Sounds like it's what you
Speaker 1: do in a normal basis with your with your app,
Speaker 1: but just kind of amped up by getting even more individuals,
Speaker 1: uh and connected individuals involved. Exactly what we're doing is
Speaker 1: we're providing you the user, better information, official information from
Speaker 1: the city governments and officials, and then really working with
Speaker 1: the cities to try to understand mobility in a whole
Speaker 1: new way. Right, so the way we see it, and
Speaker 1: you know, working with the program for for this long
Speaker 1: and we really see that, we know that the city
Speaker 1: is alive. Right, we can all feel it when you
Speaker 1: walk around New York City. You can see the energy
Speaker 1: of the city. Um, and we see our community of
Speaker 1: drivers at at that heartbeat of the city. Right. So
Speaker 1: they're telling us what's going on on the road. What
Speaker 1: is that, um? What are some points of attention? What
Speaker 1: are the most dangerous intersections in America? Cop right? And
Speaker 1: we're able to really tell um user data to show
Speaker 1: that and help government officials make more accurate decisions that
Speaker 1: can really impact our day to day lives. Well, and
Speaker 1: that's interesting, and that's I guess my question is we
Speaker 1: have a lot of I feel like companies getting out
Speaker 1: there where people, we in the general public are helping
Speaker 1: make you work. Right. We provide information when I'm driving,
Speaker 1: I say, okay, there's a traffic jam and traffic stop
Speaker 1: and so and so forth. Um. What is it that
Speaker 1: these towns and officials get out of it? I mean,
Speaker 1: are they is this a financial arrangement between you guys
Speaker 1: and cities or they're just providing the information? No, this
Speaker 1: is absolutely free, So there's no monetary exchange. Um. What
Speaker 1: they the value that they see and and then being
Speaker 1: able to have that real time pose on what's going
Speaker 1: on around the city. Right. So I'll give you an example.
Speaker 1: We work really closely with Genesis Polls. They're an emergency
Speaker 1: respondent based out of Texas, and what they've done is
Speaker 1: they've intered graded our traffic alerts or crash alerts into
Speaker 1: their systems. So a lot of the problems that they
Speaker 1: have is sixty at the time when someone calls in saying,
Speaker 1: you know, to night one on saying, oh my god,
Speaker 1: there was a crash, they have no idea where they
Speaker 1: are on the road, right. So by integrating their operations
Speaker 1: with those ways alerts, they're able to get that information faster.
Speaker 1: And then we're talking about getting to the location, to
Speaker 1: the exact location of the crash five minutes before they
Speaker 1: were able to before. So really that's talking we're talking
Speaker 1: about saving lives right um, and getting from we have
Speaker 1: out there exactly and we have we have examples of
Speaker 1: cities for example and Rio. They were they were wondering
Speaker 1: should we spend billions of dollars on building a new
Speaker 1: high way or not. They used their data and they
Speaker 1: were able to see that by implementing three new rapid
Speaker 1: transit lanes they could actually lower congestion by over and
Speaker 1: they could save that money. So we was right. So
Speaker 1: it makes the difference and I know you're in New
Speaker 1: York today for the Ways Connected Citizens Partners Summit um
Speaker 1: and so getting kind of more about the relationships and
Speaker 1: and talking about your partners um. And we'd love to
Speaker 1: check in with you in the future too and see
Speaker 1: how this is unfolding and continuing to develop. We have
Speaker 1: to leave it there, though, Tis Bloomenthal. She is head
Speaker 1: of Global Business Development at WAYS, based in San Francisco.
Speaker 1: But as I mentioned in New York today for the
Speaker 1: Ways Connected Citizens Partners Summit, all right, you are listening
Speaker 1: to Bloomberg Markets on Bloomberg Radio