New integrated travel app to be trialled in West Midlands

The app allows people to combine all their travel needs via their own smartphone and is only being trialled in Finland and the West Midlands.

The region will be the UK testing ground for Whim, an app which has been developed in Finland with a view to being rolled out worldwide.

The scheme is a collaboration between Transport for West Midlands, part of the West Midlands Combined Authority, MaaS Global of Helsinki, and transport providers.

The concept behind Whim is called Mobility as a Service, which aims to encourage people to use transport other than the private car by giving them a travel plan tailored to their individual needs.

Users pay for what transport they think they will require – ranging from car hire to taxis, bus, tram and train travel – over the course of a month or on a pay-as-you-go basis.

The Whim app will also establish the best journey routes and deal with tickets and payments.

Councillor Roger Lawrence, lead member for transport for the WMCA, said: "This is a great idea to encourage people to consider how they get about other than with the private car.

"Mobility as a Service can transform how people get about this region and by doing so help free up our roads and tackle the scourge of congestion which costs this region billions of pounds a year."

He added: "Congestion is a major problem in the West Midlands yet car use on overcrowded roads continues to be the automatic setting for many people when it comes to getting about.

"With Whim, we can get people who live in the urban environment to look at how they get out and about and give them a package addressing their requirements, whether it's on public transport or by car."

The pilot will initially run for 12 months involving up to 500 customers based in the West Midlands.

For more details on how to apply to take part in the Whim pilot, go to whim app.com/uk.