The ODIN PASS app, which books travel on eight different transport modes from one app, has been offered to another 5000 University of Queensland (UQ) students to accommodate demand.
ODIN PASS Director Dr Jake Whitehead said the early success of the ODIN PASS trial, which was developed through a partnership between the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) and UQ, led the project team to explore several options for ramping up trial participant numbers.
"We've had really positive feedback on the app, which allows users to access bus, train, tram, ferry, e-scooter, e-bike, taxi and car sharing services through different fixed-priced bundles," Dr Whitehead said.
"In the first six months from the start of the trial in July last year, there were more than 1200 subscribers and more than 1700 bundles purchased, with almost 1000 additional applications.
"This demand told us there were more students wanting to join the ODIN PASS app trial and we're thrilled to have been able to expand it.
"We're now up to more than 4000 bundles purchased from more than 2200 active participants using the app, with an average of 60 new users purchasing a bundle each week."
Head of Translink Sally Stannard said more than 87,000 public transport journeys were recorded to the end of February, with buses used in more than 80 per cent of public transport journeys.
"While travel to and from St Lucia has proved to be the most popular followed by the Brisbane CBD, we’ve seen the app used for trips as far north as Gympie, west to Ipswich and Rosewood, and south to Coolangatta,” Ms Stannard said.
“Ultimately, we hope this trial will help get more cars off the road and people into public and active transport.
"We're seeing positive steps in this direction with an average of 514 public transport trips per day via the ODIN PASS app."
Dr Whitehead said he looked forward to the remainder of the trial.
“We’ve seen strong demand for our fixed price, unlimited transport options, and we look forward to seeing how these kinds of offerings could be expanded across Queensland,” he said.
“This is one of the first projects that has been able to collect multi-modal data and we already have great insights showing how people across South East Queensland link together different modes, such as scooters and trains, to get from A to B.
“Coming into 2022, we were hopeful to welcome back many students to campus and we're pleased to be providing more students and staff with access to this world-leading mobility-as-a-service trial.”
The trial is co-led by the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) and UQ as part of an iMOVE Cooperative Research Centres program and uses the SkedGo MaaS platform.
For more information on the ODIN PASS trial, visit odinpass.com.au.
