Many people understand that certain seats on public transportation are set aside for those who would have difficulty standing for the whole trip. Those seats are for people who are disabled, elderly, or pregnant. An app that has been released in the UK is helping pregnant commuters find a seat.
Babee On Board is an app created by a company called 10x and they are based on London. They want to make public transport stress-free for everyone. Their app is simple to use and unobtrusive.
It is an improvement over their previously released Babee on Board badge, which was hardware that could be worn. The change from badge to app significantly reduced the cost so more people can benefit from the technology.
Those who want to use the Babee on Board app need to purchase it. It costs £3.99 and 100% of the profits are donated to charity. More specifically, the profits are donated to Project Healthy Children.
There are two versions of the Babee on Board app. One is for pregnant commuters who want to request a seat. The other is for non-pregnant commuters who want to offer their seat to a pregnant commuter. When a person uses the Request Seat app, it automatically sends a notification to people nearby who have the Offer Seat app.
The people who have the Offer Seat app will get a notification that a pregnant commuter is nearby and is asking for a seat. Hopefully, someone with the Offer Seat app will look around, identify the person who is requesting a seat, and swap places with that person. The app will connect people who are within a 15 foot radius.
Right now, the Request Seat app is only available for devices that have iOS 9.0 or later. The Offer Seat app is only available for devices that have iOS 8.0 or later. Both apps use bluetooth, so you don’t need an internet connection or signal to use them. Therefore, the apps will work underground (in a subway).
Pregnant commuters who are in London can get a free “Baby On Board” Pin Badge from the Tube network. This badge is not connected with the Babee on Board app, but is still useful because it helps make pregnant commuters visible to other commuters – who might offer their seat to the pregnant commuter.
The Babee on Board app does not appear to be ready for use in the United States – yet. There is potential that the 10x company might find a way to make Babee on Board available to pregnant commuters in other countries in the future.
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