GlobeSherpa Transforms Transit: TransitSherpa, SherpaTix & ParkingSherpa Apps
Sorry Dunder Mifflin, the age of paper is coming to an end in yet another industry. Thanks to the people at GlobeSherpa and their mobile app TransitSherpa (created on Appcelerator Titanium), soon the process of purchasing tickets and traveling will be paperless for the users of the TriMet in Oregon. TriMet has the aim of partnering with GlobeSherpa to automate the ticket buying and browsing process, allowing transit users to organize their journey entirely from their mobile device. Though TransitSherpa has yet to be released, it has already earned GlobeSherpa well-deserved attention.
GlobeSherpa was founded with the intention of bringing technology and business disruption to the public transportation sector. The aim was to utilize smartphone technology to improve the service of mobile ticketing for transit, parking, and local events. Though GlobeSherpa has yet to release their primary product of TransitSherpa, they have received enormous attention in the form of financial support from angel investors throughout the United States receiving a total of $500,000.
The plan is to allow riders to download the app for free which will then allow them to purchase tickets by credit or debit card each time they ride public transit; they also have the option of creating a secure account to streamline the process for repeat customers such as daily commuters. Once the ticket is purchased, a unique animation that includes a code, date and time stamp allows drivers and fare inspectors to verify tickets using a scanning device available through the apps corresponding inspector application. The animations are customized for each Transit agency and city using images that are native to the area, thereby providing a local feel for riders. TransitSherpa also allows commuters to plan their trips by providing real-time arrival and departure information as well as notifications of service disruption and of any related events or promotions.
Though the application has yet to be released, it is being met with an abundance of joy from customers who have faced an excess of broken ticket vending machines and excessive inefficiencies in the current transit ticketing system. Many are excited to remove paper from their daily commute while others still are enticed by the ability to streamline payments with TransitSherpa’s planned integration of PayPal services. GlobeSherpa will make its profits with a small percentage of each use of their application. The analytics of the application will also provide them with valuable information regarding customer satisfaction by tracking the number of users, the number and value of tickets sold as well as the number of repeat users. In addition to streamlining the process of purchasing tickets and accessing the transit system for commuters, GlobeSherpa aims to create savings for TriMet as well, hoping to perfect the transit process before expanding their services to locations outside of the Portland area.
GlobeSherpa is also working on an application to sell tickets to local events, SherpaTix, and an application to streamline parking, ParkingSherpa. These applications will work similarly to TransitSherpa through the utilization of the mobile payment system and confirmation technology to ensure the authenticity of purchased tickets.
GlobeSherpa initially considered a wide variety of development options before settling on Titanium, including PhoneGap, Rhomobile, and native development in Objective-C and Java. Titanium emerged as the premium option for developing TransitSherpa for a variety of reasons, including the use of JavaScript as the primary development language, which eased the search for development resources. The cross-device and cross-platform mobile development capabilities of Titanium created an excellent environment for a start-up with limited funds by allowing a single code base to be used for multiple devices. Lastly, according to Nat Parker of GlobeSherpa, “The ability to extend the platform with custom modules meant that we could still take advantage of all the native functionality provided by Apple and Google.”
To read more about GlobeSherpa and the status of their applications, TransitSherpa, ParkingSherpa, and SherpaTix at their website. For more on their company, check out this article powered by The Oregonian; you can also follow GlobeSherpa on twitter @GlobeSherpa.
