Our new project, Open Transport Network

We have recently been working on a public and commercial transport project Open Transport Network, where passengers can find transit schedules, routes and other transit related information, and yesterday was its first day as a public website. We are starting out with a few agencies in San Francisco and Sacramento (BART, SF Muni and Sacramento Regional Transit), so if you live in the Bay area and use public transit, we'd love to hear from you. If you live elsewhere, do not worry - over the coming weeks we will be uploading the data of transit agencies in multiple cities across the United States and the world, and try to make the world of transportation a bit more organized :)

So feel free to check it out and let us know if you have any comments. By the way, if you would like to see the Open Transport Network in your city or provide your own schedules, please drop us a line!

Ex-mayor of Vilnius buys a London taxi

Arturas Zuokas, the mayor of Vilnius during 2000-2007, is no stranger to innovative ideas - such as a free bicycle scheme for Vilnius and live streaming of the mayor's office over the internet among others. His latest idea? In September Mr. Zuokas bought a London taxi.

What prompted this purchase? “Well, I always liked the design of London taxis, it is a classic design, which has a certain history and a certain charm”, he says to lrytas.lt. “It is also a timeless model, it does not get old.”

But this is just part of the story. Having previously used a chauffeured BMW 7, Mr. Zuokas says that he does not really need a car in the city, as the journeys are usually short and his personal driver spends most of the time waiting to pick his boss up. Hence the new taxi – which will be available not only to him, but also to the citizens and guests of the city – as a regular taxi.

This approach has a number of advantages, Mr. Zuokas says. A taxi can use public transport lanes thereby being faster in traffic, it can enter the restricted Old Town zones, inaccessible to private cars. And the taxi is used not only for Mr. Zuokas own needs, but also for those of other people.

Mr. Zuokas envisions that this could become a broader iniciative if public institutions and municipalities adopted the same approach. “For instance, ministers, mayors, and department heads also have cars with personal drivers, who spend most of the time waiting until the officials have to be transported from one place to another. If they were operating as taxis, other people and employees of the institution could use them as well,” he explains on his blog. “It would be a more efficient way of spending taxpayers' money, and the government would be closer to the people,” he adds.

Two films on open transit data

As the open data initiatives are gaining momentum, below are two short movies covering open transit data initiatives, including Portland's Trimet, MassDOT, San Francisco's BART and other innovators.


by GOODMagazine via @ITSWorld


by Streetfilms.

Geogoer in the Financial Times

Geooger has recently been covered in the Financial Times as part of a story on ambitious start-ups that chose to start their businesses in Britain. The article is here - free registration is needed to view it. 

The Difference Engine in Lithuania

On July 15-18 guests from the UK and the Difference Engine will be visiting Lithuania - and it is very exciting to welcome them here!

The delegation includes Jon Bradford, the founder of The Difference Engine; Jonathan Shrago, founder of Tagorize, Seedcamp 2009 finalist, and a participant of the Difference Engine; Stewart Townsend, start-up master a.k.a. the man in the shirt, who was previously behind the Sun Start-up Essentials Programme, and Annely Lautre from UK Trade and Investment.

They will be spending a few days in Vilnius and Kaunas - meeting local start-ups, participating in a few events and doing some tech / general sightseeing, so if you are into technology, start-ups, entrepreneurship, or would just like to show Lithuania to the guests - register for any part of the programme below:

Thursday, July 15

16:30 Short tour of Vilnius Old Town. REGISTER.

18:00 Start-up event in Vilnius with pitches, talks and networking, followed by drinks. REGISTER. 

Friday, July 16

14:00 Trip to Trakai. If you would like to join, REGISTER HERE. 

18:00 Start-up Weekend meets Mobile Monday event for all start-up enthusiasts in Kaunas. REGISTER HERE.  

Saturday, July 17

10:00 Office hours in Vilnius. Start-ups wishing to have a one-on-one conversation with the guests, please REGISTER FOR OFFICE HOURS HERE. 

14:00 Trip to Grutas park. If you would like to participate, JOIN HERE.

Sunday, July 18

11:00 Office hours in Kaunas. Start-ups, REGISTER FOR OFFICE HOURS HERE.

14:30 Tour around Kaunas.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact Dalia (d@geogoer.com) or Ksistof (k@geogoer.com), or organizers of the start-up events directly.

See you soon!

Geogoer is now a multinational company

As of this week, Ksistof will be representing us from Lithuania. Grab a coffee with him if you are in Vilnius :)

London Demo Day in a picture

by @lucyjspence