Behaviour change experts BetterPoints have joined forces with HITRANS (the Highlands and Islands Transport Partnership) to promote their Go-Hi app and encourage residents of the Scottish Highlands and Islands to use active and sustainable modes of transport wherever possible.
The Go-Hi app, powered by Mobilleo, lets people plan journeys, compare prices and buy tickets from a growing network of partners including Brompton, Enterprise Mobility, Northlink, ScotRail and Stagecoach.
The addition of BetterPoints will enable HITRANS to reward people for active and sustainable journeys and, in time, for buying tickets through Go-Hi. It will be the first time BetterPoints’ tried-and-tested platform has been integrated directly into a MaaS application.
Participants earn points (‘BetterPoints’), which can be redeemed for rewards, and can enter prize draws. Rewards and prizes so far include Scotland Loves Local cards, Brompton subscriptions and vouchers, and passes for Go-Hi bike hire as well as high-street vouchers.
Points can also be donated to a catalogue of charities, which will soon include a number of local causes.
The new partnership is planned in three phases over the next few months:
In Phase One, HITRANS will run a BetterPoints programme to reward sustainable journeys, encourage the use of Go-Hi, and promote its partners. This launches on 13 November.
Phase Two will begin integrating the technologies so that journeys bought in the Go-Hi app will be rewarded automatically in the BetterPoints app.
In Phase Three, a full platform integration will migrate everything into the single Go-Hi app.
Fiona Hyslop, Minister for Transport, said:
“I’m pleased to see how HITRANS and BetterPoints have been working together to encourage people to travel sustainably using the Go-Hi app. It’s a great way to easily access accurate and reliable travel information, with the added bonus now of being rewarded for leaving your car at home.
“Every small step helps to reduce our carbon emissions and helps make Scotland a healthier place to live in and visit.”
Ross Basnett, Strategic Account Director at Mobilleo, said:
“We are excited to be working with BetterPoints to bring rewards and incentivisation into the Go-Hi MaaS platform. This opens up opportunities to try new ideas in attracting people to shared, public and active travel, and hopefully cementing those behaviours in future.
“MaaS is about putting the user, not the vehicle, at the centre of transport and the work we do with BetterPoints strengthens that approach.”
Richard Kirk, CEO of BetterPoints, said:
“This could be a game-changer for MaaS, as it fuses the tools for making transport choices with targeted incentives to make those choices green and healthy ones.
“It means that as well as making travel planning easier for people, a MaaS system will actively support the transport network in becoming more sustainable. It’s an exciting development for us, for MaaS, and for active and sustainable travel.”
Ranald Robertson, Partnership Director at HITRANS, said:
“Go-Hi is helping people find, plan, book and pay for their travel making it much easier for people to travel sustainably without a car. We are really proud of what Go-Hi has achieved already but we recognise that people really need to be encouraged to change travel behaviours that are often long-standing.
“This partnership adds incentives to reward people for making smart and sustainable travel choices and we are delighted to be working with our partners at Mobilleo and BetterPoints to reward people who are travelling actively and sustainably.
“It is great that as well as improving our health and reducing our carbon footprint we can also enjoy a wide range of rewards that will be available throughout the Highlands and Islands.”