Shotl shares its vision with schools

The way everybody sees transportation these days is changing. There is a lot of discussion amongst adults; trying to understand what works for them, and plan how they would like to see future transport function. But how exactly do our children see future transport? The Shotl founders Osvald and Gerard recently went to a local school to find out how a class of elementary students felt about transport.

Agora International School in Sant Cugat is one of the most prestigious in the country and it also happens to be close to the Shotl headquarters. So when the opportunity to spend some time amongst their elementary students arose we couldn’t say no. We started with three discussion-based activities.

Firstly. We wanted to find out how they felt about traveling by car. Although students expressed their obvious excitement about certain car journeys, we were happy to see that the pupils, all aged between 8 - 9 years old, were able to identify three negative aspects connected with the use of private transportation. These were; traffic congestion, parking space, and CO2 emissions.

Then on to traditional bus systems. What negative points did the students see when it comes to taking the old public bus network? Well, lack of flexibility was one. Students didn’t like having to wait long periods for their next bus. They also didn’t like how far out of the way some of the routes would take them. They said their routes were “too long-winded” and that it just took too long to arrive at their final destination. One positive that they did pick up on though was how when lots of commuters share the same service it goes to help the environment!

For the third activity, we talked about on-demand bus services and the students were able to identify the following positives; greater flexibility, accessibility, and again lower CO2 emissions. We presented our platform to the class, showing them how technology that is being used right now can help to make public transportation more flexible and accessible. This was an opportunity for us to explain how our technology works, and demonstrate how it is helping to solve the exact problems they had identified.  

Being naturally inquisitive and excited by innovative technology, the students were happy to see that this technology is currently being used by Shotl to make travel easier and more exciting! Our trip to Agora School was an enriching experience. It was a chance to talk to the future generation about finding solutions to existing problems. And it was also a delight seeing them get to grips with the kind of technology that will help to shift the way we all think about transport.

At Shotl we are committed to improving future mobility. Our on-demand app is currently helping commuters and service providers in over 8 countries with passengers of all cultures and ages. Our visit to Agora School was a reminder that in order to keep innovating and finding new solutions, we must face challenges with openness. And with the kind of intrigue and excitement that the kids at Agora School showed to us!