As we near the end of another year at Zipabout, we’re reflecting on everything we’ve achieved as a business in 2022. From new features being developed and launching our Local product, to onboarding new clients and welcoming lots of new faces to the company, it's been a very busy year!

Here’s just a few of our highlights from 2022!

We officially launched our Local product - helping local authorities reach their net-zero goals.

Oxfordshire County Council were the first in the UK to adopt our free Local technology. They’re now using it to hit their goals of reducing car usage by a third and building a zero-carbon public transport network.

Our free, first-of-its-kind suite of digital tools enables them to reward greener travel choices, integrate micro-mobility options like scooters and provide real-time journey information to passengers.

We have doubled our WhatsApp user numbers since 2021.

Zipabout’s WhatsApp launch in 2021 was a global first, offering personalised, real-time journey information to passengers. And over the last six months, our WhatsApp user numbers have doubled, with consumers realising the benefits of communicating with companies on channels they already have and use daily.

Our messaging stats rocketed to two million a month.

2022 was a record year for Zipabout. In just one month, we sent nearly 2 million messages on channels including WhatsApp and Messenger. This growth has increased week on week, as more users switch on to the trend of using messaging for business purposes, not just chat.

We began working with the Confederation for Passenger Transport to help drive bus patronage across the UK.

We’ve been working alongside members of the Confederation of Passenger Transport to provide a suite of free digital tools to help drive bus passenger numbers and make bus scheduling more efficient across the UK.

As part of trials funded by the UK Department for Transport (DfT),  CPT members can now access Zipabout’s unique technology to proactively provide their passengers with information on their journeys in real-time, through the channels they already use – Messenger, WhatsApp and SMS.

We ran a trial with our mobility partner Voi to offer discounted e-scooter rides across UK cities.

After developing our First & Last Mile feature in 2021 to include the Voi e-scooter option for passengers, we ran a trial that offered passengers discounted rides to maximise e-scooter usage. This meant that people had a wider variety of choice when it came to everyday travel across a wider range of networks. It also meant that travellers were able to make greener, more informed journey choices.

We launched more exciting features on our platform, such as Itinerary and Now & Next.

Itinerary

Our Itinerary feature has been put in place to support train operators in their mission to protect rail passengers, ease anxious travelling and optimise safety at every stage of a journey.

Read more about Itinerary here.

Now & Next

Now & Next was developed to take away the anxiety that often comes with travelling. It keeps passengers updated with each leg of their journey, from where their journey begins to where they’ll be going next. With live routing and a journey tracker available at the touch of a button, we can always make passengers aware of any problems that occur.

Read more about Now & Next here.

We introduced new clients to our platform, working closely to develop more personalised features for passengers.

We officially began working with Southwestern Railway, Scotrail, West Midlands Railway, London Northwestern and Northern Rail, adding several new big names to our growing list of transport operating partners in the UK.

We attended the Smart Cities Expo in Barcelona, unlocking new business opportunities.

We attended a range of conferences and events throughout 2022 where we had the opportunity to share ideas and industry developments with partners, clients and likeminded businesses across the globe.

Our CTO, Daniel Chick, represented Zipabout at the Confederation for Passenger Transport’s ‘Sharing Ideas’ event.

Dan took a seat on the panel amongst other industry professionals from the likes of the CPT, Optibus and Ember at NEC Birmingham to discuss the important questions around Big Data and how we can improve industry operations for customers.

And finally...we welcomed lots of new faces to our Leamington Spa headquarters! The business continues to grow, and so does the team. We can’t wait to see what’s in store for us in 2023.