RYDE

RYDE Inc., established in September 2019 by CEO Masaya Sugisaki and CTO Yusuke Shibahara, is a Japanese company addressing the digital transformation of regional public transportation. The founders identified a critical gap where local transport services, essential to communities facing population decline, were struggling to keep up with digitalization, leading to operational inefficiencies and declining ridership. Prior to RYDE, the team had a background in system planning, development, and digital marketing, which informed their approach to tackling the issues in the public transport sector.

The company's core business is the planning and operation of RYDE PASS, a mobility platform designed to digitize secondary transportation services. This platform serves local governments and transport operators, such as bus, railway, and ferry companies, across Japan. The business model centers on providing a comprehensive digital solution that allows these operators to offer their services through a unified smartphone application. This helps transport providers to streamline operations, access and analyze customer data for better service planning, and implement modern marketing strategies.

The primary product is the RYDE PASS mobile application, which functions as a multi-modal MaaS (Mobility as a Service) platform. It enables end-users to purchase digital tickets—including single-fare tickets, day passes, and commuter passes—for a variety of transportation methods like trains, buses, trams, and passenger ships. For consumers, the benefit is the convenience of planning and paying for travel across different operators within a single app. For the transport companies, RYDE PASS lowers the barrier to digital service provision, regardless of their size or capital, offering a sustainable way to modernize. The platform has steadily grown, partnering with over 130 operators by the end of 2024. The company has received recognition for its work, including being selected for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's King Salmon Project in 2023 and named in Forbes JAPAN's 100 notable Japanese startups in 2024.

Keywords: MaaS Japan, mobility platform, public transportation, digital ticketing, RYDE PASS, secondary transport, regional transport, smart city, transport DX, Masaya Sugisaki, mobile ticketing, transportation app, transit solutions, government collaboration, transport operator services, rural mobility, data-driven transport, multimodal travel, Japanese startups, bus digitalization, railway technology, ferry ticketing