Discover how Kuba’s solution supports large-scale events and benefits the communities that public transit agencies serve
Public transit is the ideal way to attend large-scale events, ensuring that people get to the location without the stress of traffic and parking. In many European countries and Australia, it is the norm to use public transit to get to pop concerts or sporting events that attract crowds of more than 40,000.
In Copenhagen, for example, where Kuba has its Denmark office, public transit is the leading transport choice for large volumes of people for major events. The Ed Sheeran concerts in 2022 were at a custom-built stadium close to the city’s airport and public beach (see photo). According to Copenhagen Metro, it took around an hour for 40,000 concertgoers to be transported from the concert venue. The Metro was running at full capacity, and as the trains are autonomous, this did not require extra drivers.
This X (formerly Twitter) user perfectly illustrates the difference between a US stadium and a European one with equal capacities. By utilizing special bus routes with dedicated buses for special events, the need for vast car parks would be removed, along with the environmental impact of the associated traffic.
Kuba’s Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) apps offer transit agencies many ways to support large-scale events and benefit the communities they serve. For some people, using these event services may be their first public transport experience, and a positive one can lead to further exploration of other fixed services.
How our MaaS apps offer extensive support for events:
➡️ Agencies can create an event that shows on the home screen, map screen and the trip planner of our MaaS apps. Riders can share these with others using a web link to the app.
The Minnesota Valley Transit Authority (MVTA) utilized this feature last year. It will continue to do so from April to August for regional concerts and from April to October for Minnesota United football. MVTA has also introduced special shuttle bus services to transit hubs such as Eagan, Apple Valley, and Burnsville transit stations to supplement this.
➡️ Icons on the map screen can be customized to differentiate between specific services or show special routes such as game days, concerts, or state fairs.
Throughout 2024, DART will work with one of North Texas’s most famous community members, Grammy Award-winning artist Erykah Badu. As part of the collaboration, transit in North Texas will feature the Badu Bus and Rail designs and will be seen driving throughout the State until the end of the year. Users of DART’s GoPass® app, powered by Kuba, can pinpoint the real-time locations of the cool Badu-inspired buses and trains on the network via the web trip planner and the GoPass app.
➡️ Specific fares can be created for events and promoted on the home screens of our apps, or in the sales catalog.
➡️ Agencies can add specific routes for events, which riders can book and pay for in advance using the apps, allowing agencies to know the volume of passengers in a particular event. The buses run efficiently as passengers do not need to purchase tickets on board. This will also be safer for the drivers as they do not need to handle cash.
➡️Promotions can be created to issue free or discounted fares as personal one-time use codes or a published reusable code distributed as web links or QR codes.
A good example is the 2024 Men’s Final Four basketball event, which will be played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Kuba provided Valley Metro, the local transit agency, with two promotions that are being shared with attendees (via the NCAA mobile app) and coaches (via invitation) so they can ride for free to the games and to all the other fringe events going on in the region at that time.
➡️ In-app pop-up messages and push notifications provide a tool that transit agencies can use to alert people of forthcoming events.
➡️ App notifications for an excellent communication tool for agencies to send alerts to forthcoming events, provide reminders, and indicate if there are any disruptions or changes to plans.
This functionality is available to all agencies using Kuba’s mobility platform as the basis for their Mobility-as-a-Service app. Kuba powers GoPass and other white label MaaS apps used by agencies in a number of US states.
Contact us today for a free live demo of our mobile mobility platform to see how it can work for you. We’d love to hear from you – contact Kevin Corkery
