Five ways Unwire’s mobility platform supports low-income riders

In the US, around 20% of low-income households don’t have a car and rely on public transit services to access employment and education opportunities as well as essential services. This figure compares to 6% of all households.*

Unwire’s mobility platform offers several measures which support low to middle-income riders, helps to prevent discrimination and can improve access to essential public transit services. Research from MIT indicates that low-income riders with access to half-price fares took 30% more trips overall on public transit.**

Public transit is covered by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination of persons whose household income is at or below the US Department of Health and Human Services poverty guidelines.

So what support does Unwire’s mobility platform offer?

  1. The app, which is free from all app stores, supports a broad range of affordable mobile devices.
  2. The app supports the option to add cash to the phone via an agency’s service centres or a cash to mobile provider. One such provider already integrated to the mobility platform in the US is PayNearMe. This service is available via a retailer such as 7 Eleven or CVS. The app shows users where their local PayNearMe stores are so they can easily find locations nearby. Once the user has handed over the cash, and PayNearMe processes it, the credit is then immediately ready in the mobile app.
  3. There is the possibility for tickets to be purchased as gifts for other registered users.
  4. The app offers Fare Capping, where users have their monthly costs capped. This ensures that riders will never spend more than the total cost of a monthly pass in a calendar month.
  5. The app also supports a store value accounts which means that money can be added from a payment card, Apple or Google Pay and cash to mobile. This helps riders budget their monthly expenses and ensure they always have money for their transit tickets.

Unwire’s mobile mobility platform is a white label solution, and any transit agency large or small can get up and running rapidly with no need for substantial implementation projects and without any large upfront investments.

Contact us today for a free live demo of our mobile mobility platform to see how it can work for you.

Contact us today:  hi@unwire.com

*research from Ramya Vijaya, Professor of Economics, Stockton University.

**http://equitytransit.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/whitepaper_v8.pdf