The global pandemic has changed behaviours and industries in many ways, and urban mobility has been one of the most heavily affected sectors.
As people continue to resume everyday activities like going back to the office, meeting with friends and family, travelling to school or using public services, they are looking for new apps that can help them get safely and reliably to their destination.
“Navigation apps are always in high demand, and are particularly important now as people around the world look for the most efficient, reliable and safe ways to move about and get on with their lives,” said Wang Heng, Vice President, Global Partnerships and Eco-Development at Huawei Consumer Business Group, CEE and Nordics.
“That’s why we have proactively expanded our app portfolio on AppGallery to deliver customers with a range of very high quality, proven and popular digital navigation tools that they can feel confident about using.”
Huawei, the leading global technology company, has announced its partnership expansion with Moovit, an Intel company, a Mobility as a Service (MaaS) solutions provider and the creator of a leading urban mobility app. Huawei has integrated the award winning free Moovit app into its rapidly expanding AppGallery. This is the latest in a growing number of high-profile apps that have been built, or adapted, specifically for the millions of consumers using Huawei’s official app distribution platform.
Already in use by over 865 million people in 3200 cities across 106 countries worldwide, Moovit’s free urban mobility app combines information from public transport operators, micro-transport operators and transport authorities, with live information from the user community. As a result, the app provides a real-time picture of the best route for any journey with urban mobility options such as bus, metro, train, bikes, e-scooters, car-sharing, ride-hailing, and more.
While other apps may use only official transport data, Moovit’s accuracy comes from using a combination of official and crowdsourced data from its community of users. Moovit also has a close working relationship with cities, agencies, regional and local authorities, and transport operators in thousands of global locations, working with them to meet the fast-changing expectations of passengers.
Following the outbreak of COVID-19, public transportation ridership decreased significantly in major cities around the world, altering the way people travel within their cities. Seeing this first-hand, Moovit surveyed thousands of global commuters to see how urban mobility trends were evolving and to explore what riders need to feel safe using public transport. Moovit looked at how people commuted pre-pandemic and post-restrictions easing, asking how they plan to get around in six months from now and what would encourage them to use public transport more. What is clear from the findings is that services and capacity levels need to be planned proactively to encourage citizens back on public transport. Passengers are looking for transport to run more frequently in order to reduce crowding and want real-time information so they can avoid waiting in queues or at crowded bus stops. Disinfection of vehicles and carriages, and contactless entrance, exit and mobile payment options are also high on the agenda.
Moovit will also have its free web app version available in customised format in the Huawei mobile browser. Moovit is the latest in a wide range of apps in the travel category that have been added to AppGallery such as Booking.com, eSky, Omio, Skyscanner or Turkish Airlines. It exemplifies the company’s commitment to providing high quality solutions that provide customers with a unique and smart experience, and it reinforces Huawei’s ‘global and local’ approach to app listing that provides consumers with an enhanced experience by focusing on popular local apps.
Other navigation apps added to AppGallery recently include the web mapping and navigation service HERE WeGo, the car satnav giant TomTomGo, the mobile offline maps tool Maps.me and GPS navigation tool Sygic.
