Smart Mobility

April 3, 2023

The importance of backend on a connected mobility platform

Our constant need to be on the move, together with the transformation that all mobility operators are experiencing - from public and private transport operators, through to transport authorities, service providers, and end users themselves - has made it necessary to offer integrated, aggregated digital solutions that are both useful and simple, and which allow the end user to make the right decisions based on their needs.

In line with the pursuit of this ambitious objective, Meep's connected mobility platform offers a digitised solution in which all the elements involved (the technology as well as those of us who use it on a daily basis to improve user experience) play a fundamental role. This helps us to provide our clients (Alsa, Aena, Avanza etc.) with a range of services as well as a supporting infrastructure. This allows us to capture information from the different agents, apply optimisation algorithms, personalise routes, and provide mechanisms that offer a uniform experience in everything related to mobility. This combination of people, technology, and resources make up the Meep backend.

Our team of engineers works on a daily basis to provide a personalised, standardised experience for each mode of transport (buses, metro, trams, taxis, VTCs, DRTs, car-sharing mobility, motorbikes, scooters, bicycles, ferries, etc.).

All this is possible thanks to the development of an integrated platform based on the different mobility standards used (GTFS, GBFS, MDS and TOMP) and the specific APIs of each operator.

With this approach, we have incorporated more than 168 operators to date. We are able to add new transport operators quickly and efficiently, and we can offer public transport information for a new city (lines, routes, itineraries, timetables, etc.) in a time frame that no-one else on the market can match.

Another key element for our backend team is the multimodality and single journey approach, for which we have developed our own travel planning service using the most advanced technology on the market. We have also incorporated our own algorithms, thus making the entire user experience a simple and complete multimodal experience, from choosing the best route between any two given places, to obtaining fares, booking, managing the journey, making payments and the consultation of subsequent data.

Finally, the backend offers an API for consumers to interact with the data and flows previously described. Meep's Android and iOS apps are the main clients of this API and they offer our users all the functionality of our connected mobility platform, through their mobile devices.

And, in order for all of this to work seamlessly, it is imperative to have an infrastructure that can offer scalability of services when faced with changes in demand, resilience in the face of possible problems, as well as reliability and robustness to meet all user requests. These are elements that our backend team works on a day-to-day basis, connecting all the necessary elements to ensure that our customers' final experience is as satisfactory as possible.