As advanced as society has become, wasted time in arduous commutes has only increased. This is a drain on the economy, the environment and the quality of life. Commuting constitutes a significant portion of people’s everyday lives, especially when distances between home and work are particularly long and/or cumbersome in major cities. Commuting can be a source of unpredictability and daily frustration. The New Cities Foundation Task Force on Connected Commuting aims to find an innovative way to make commuting more efficient and enjoyable.

The advent of smartphones, pervasive connectivity and increasingly available broadband gives commuters the ability to inform one another about their commutes, making it more engaging, predictable, and an overall better experience. In this context, if commuters are able to communicate personal, localized and highly relevant information to other commuters who share the same route, this might lead to:

• Shorter commute times
• Changed commuting behaviour
• New forms of social connections
• A more environmentally friendly commute
• A more effective, less resource-intensive way of planning and managing commutes

This Task Force is taking a bold new approach to better understand how to improve the commute experience. The collaborative partnership between New Cities Foundation, NCF Founding Member Ericsson, the San Jose Department of Transportation, Orange Labs, two start-up mobile phone app companies (Waze and Roadify), and a California-based academic research institute has set up the first phase of its research project in the heart of Silicon Valley, San Jose, California.

In this phase, the Task Force seeks to connect travelers who share the same daily commute route with one another via smartphone apps. The apps will allow commuters to share relevant, useful information related to their commute with each other. The project takes a multi-modal approach to understanding commuting by observing those who travel by car and those who use public transportation. By studying interactions that take place among commuters, the Task Force seeks to gain insights into commuter behavior that may spur potential technologies, products, services, and innovations that improve commuting.