“Data is the new oil,” says EnRoute founder Aviv Frenkel.

‘Shop with us and ride for free’ is the new calling card for retailers thanks to an entirely new transport system developed by EnRoute.

Over lunch, Leon Daniels chats with EnRoute founder Aviv Frenkel about the genuinely exciting development in transport, where public transport agencies and companies come together to provide free travel to their customers. When passengers make their on-line retail purchases across a wide range of goods using the operator’s app, the retailers pay for the ride.

Already in operation in Germany in a partnership with DB, EnRoute’s technology is now about to launch in Singapore and Madrid.

In explaining where the idea came from, Aviv - a former technology presenter on TV, who gave up his job to start EnRoute - gives advice for young people wanting to get into a start-up, which is especially relevant as transport continues to move from being an engineering business to a technology business.

And, Aviv warns transport companies that COVID-19 has accelerated the change in transport habits not by five, but 10 years.

“Ridership and revenues are down, so transport companies need to diversify their business model - and this helps start-ups,” says Aviv.

He also talks about financing start-ups and where the investment comes from. “We are at the confluence of mobility, e-commerce and FinTech (financial technology),” he adds.

As the discussion moves to the use of anonymised data by London Underground to improve its service, Leon lifts the lid on what really happened when London’s buses stopped taking cash payments, and the complaints it received. The details will surprise you….