Traffic is a drain on all of us. It negatively impacts the economic expansion of South Florida, leading two Mayors — one former and one serving — to challenge Salim Ismail, the founding Executive Director of Singularity University to solve traffic in Miami-Dade. With strong support from the Knight Foundation, Codina Partners, MDX and the Office of Mayor Carlos Giménez, Salim and the Fastrack Institute established a 16-week competition to develop new private enterprises with the sole aim of encouraging the citizens of Miami-Dade to help solve traffic by getting out of their single-occupant vehicles — at least sometimes. The Fastrack teams recognized that solving traffic in Miami requires the longer-term, infrastructure-rich SMART Plan coupled to shorter-term, human-centered business solutions. Imagine the disruptive strength of Lyft, Uber, Airbnb focused on solving Miami-Dade traffic, and you have the Fastrack solution, Velocia.
Velocia is a free mobile phone app that rewards people for getting out of single-occupant vehicles. Velocia has partnered with both the Public and Private sectors to create a mobility ecosystem that spans all forms of mobility. The app rewards you for riding Metrobus, Metrorail (and one day Metromover), hopping on a CitBike or e-scooting that first mile/last mile on a Bolt scooter. We have big rewards for sharing your car on Getaround or forsaking car ownership altogether and using a shared-Getaround vehicle for those trips when you just have to have a car. We will be experimenting with surprise rewards from SwiftSeat to crack the carpooling nut, especially for Miami-Dade university students. Velocia rewards you for walking to promote good living and a healthy alternative to the first mile/last mile mobility dilemma. Just by pairing your existing mobility apps on the Velocia platform you can help Miami solve traffic congestion, reduce carbon emissions, save some money and just have more fun getting around our cities and county.
Velocia is generous. We understand the potential positive impact incentives and rewards can have on our community. Therefore, we have made it easy for users to earn and redeem on the platform. Today, you can see campaigns such as: walk 5 miles in a week and earn 50 VELOS, enough to redeem for a $5 Lyft coupon or Download the Getaround app and Velocia rewards you 100 VELOS, enough for $10 off your next trip with Uber or a JUMP e-scooter. Velocia rewards you every time you board Metrobus or Metrorail, with bonus VELOS for riding Metrorail to the airport or carpooling to the North Dadeland Park & Ride.
Velocia has global aspirations that begin here in Miami! Miamians are diverse, energetic and entrepreneurial and provide a rich fabric for learning the ins-and-outs of mobility reward economics. The community and its political leaders have been extraordinarily supportive and Velocia would like to provide a positive return to Miami for its investment, innovation and confidence.
If Velocia encourages each of you to spend one day less a week in a single-occupant vehicle with Rewards that Move You, then you begin participating in a virtuous cycle of decreasing congestion and decreasing carbon emissions, while increasing savings and more healthy living. As leaders in the Miami Business Community, we are asking you to help spread the word about Velocia. Your reach spans across organizations, employees, communities and much more. We are looking for 2000 users to help us test the app, earn and redeem rewards and provide feedback to make Velocia the best it can be for Miami.
Please download the Velocia app from the App Store (iPhone users) or Play Store (android users) and invite your colleagues and employees to do the same. Use invite code 3055.
By David Winterstein, Co-Founder and CEO and Eldredge Bermingham, Head of Strategic Partnerships
Velocia, Inc
