Founded in 2008, Somar Digital has focused on using data, design and technology to deliver innovative public transport customer experiences and become an important part of the Australian and New Zealand public transport sector. The Wellington based company now provides a full suite of web services and design expertise for a variety of industry clients, including Wellington public transport agency Metlink, Bay of Plenty Regional Council and many other community focused government and non-profit organisations.
With the recent launch of its product suite, TransitDash, Somar Digital has ascended to delivering a comprehensive solution that caters to both operators’ staff and passengers.
“TransitDash uniquely addresses the pain points of creating customer-facing information for public transport authorities,” Somar Digital product design specialist Lauren Strpko told ABC.
“We originally co-designed these solutions as a feature of the Metlink website backend, and soon transport authority leaders in Australia and New Zealand were also interested in them.
“The key pain points we address are the issues of staff having to create large amounts of customer-facing information in short time frames or with limited design capacity. By combining a simple interface to produce high-quality digital and printable outputs with connected public transport data, we’ve taken most of the manual steps out of these day-to-day processes and simultaneously ensured brand consistency without extra design review or intervention.”
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For years, Somar Digital and Metlink have worked together to produce solutions that make running and using public transport easier for all involved.
“Our partnership with Metlink goes beyond technology,” Somar Digital head of innovation Shaun Hunter told ABC.
“Since 2017, we’ve worked together to build solutions that genuinely improve the lives of Wellington commuters. It’s been an innovation journey where we constantly push the boundaries of what’s possible integrating public transport data, all while keeping the focus on delivering value to the user.”
Metlink customer experience manager David Boyd says: “Metlink is committed to a customer-led strategy for creating our digital channels. Somar has been a partner in delivering on this strategy.
“We see digital information as a key driver of customer satisfaction and an enabler of patronage growth.”
Strpko says small changes made in the software have led to a “massive domino effect” that makes running and using public transport easier for everyone.
“Staff have previously had to create and update documents and digital screens manually, and we know there’s currently a squeeze in the public sector in NZ, so we want to help them by providing easier and more efficient systems,” Strpko says.
Somar Digital CEO Fiona Reid says the company’s partnership with Metlink has allowed it to produce a system that makes running public transport services easier than ever before.
“In today’s challenging economic environment where public transport leaders, marketers and administrators are being asked to do more with less, TransitDash’s tools – both individually and collectively – will help take the pain points away, supporting a more sustainable, efficient operation,” Reid says.
The benefits of TransitDash for staff extend far wider than simply providing more information for passengers. The solution also gives more power at the fingertips of an employee, reducing the friction of producing and accessing overwhelming amounts of public transport information.
“At Somar, we’ve always believed that tech is only as good as the experience it creates. It’s not just about the code or features—it’s about making life easier for the people who use our tools,” Hunter says.
“Every solution we build puts the user first, ensuring they get the information they need as efficiently as possible.”
Somar now wants to make TransitDash known to agencies in Australasia so that they can embrace the enhanced capabilities of emerging software.
“There are always early adopters of new technology, but the transport industry tends to be more traditional,” Strpko says.
“If you have a large number of employees who aren’t used to taking on new software, it can be daunting. We’ve tried to build a lot into the TransitDash solution so that it’s easy for staff to get started with using it.
“We think that the more people in a business that can use the technology, then the easier it gets for everyone. It doesn’t take days of training to learn to use TransitDash – we’ve lowered the barrier of entry for the software.”
This ease of access for staff also shows in the structure of the solution itself, with Somar Digital opting to remain flexible with an organisation licence instead of requiring companies to buy a licence per person to use the software, and offering it as a web-based platform.
Somar Digital hopes to continue to support the trend of transport companies remaining open about their developments and insights to allow the entire industry to benefit. It’s this generous thinking that is spurring Somar onto greater heights with its transport software.
“We want to use this technology to solve genuine day to day problems and learn what features work the best for staff,” Strpko says.
“We love the idea of providing that collective good to everyone. If we can serve everyone with our knowledge, then we’re passing the value around – it’s a unique part of our industry and it plays into our software too.”
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