News

Bisnow Magazine has a feature on DC-based TransitScreen. Part of their growth is being driven by Pena Station Next. Below is a brief excerpt with a link to the full article.

Four years since launching in Ballston and creating its first display of real-time public transit options, TransitScreen is an international company with nearly 1,000 screens in 33 different cities that are seen by an estimated 15 million people each month. With a major new partnership to launch in smart cities and with three new products in development, TransitScreen’s co-founders say it is just in the second inning of its growth.

TransitScreen was formed out of a Mobility Lab project in Arlington, co-founders Matt Caywood and Ryan Croft thought its main customers would be local governments. They soon found out that there was much greater demand from property owners and managers, and before they knew it, TransitScreen was a real estate tech company. After forming partnerships with firms such as The JBG Cos., AvalonBay, Bozzuto and JLL, TransitScreen now collects 60% of its revenues from real estate companies. Croft said the recent development boom, coupled with the increasing use of ride-sharing, bike-sharing and other mass transit services, has been key to the company’s growth.

“There’s an audience for what we create,” Croft said. “There’s a business model, and, more than anything, it’s just good timing from a development perspective. Real estate is in a boom right now, which we’re benefiting from, but also there’s a mobility revolution going on, which is undeniable.”

Croft said two real estate sectors in particular have been driving its recent growth: hospitality and co-working. The company formed a partnership in November with D.C.-based MakeOffices to install screens in all of its co-working spaces. Croft said it has also partnered with The Wharf to install screens in each of its hotels and in public spaces throughout the 1.4M SF waterfront development opening in October.

“The builders and the city recognize this is a new development, the biggest in [the] city, and transportation is going to be a challenge,” Croft said. “Giving people options and letting them know how to get there and how to get home is important.”

The company has also installed screens in high-traffic locations like D.C.’s Gallery Place and Boston’s Fenway Park. As it continues to grow its presence in real estate projects, Croft said a major new partnership with a technology company has him most excited about TransitScreen’s growth.

TransitScreen last month formed a partnership with tech giant Panasonic that Croft said will skyrocket its expansion far beyond building lobbies. With the partnership, Panasonic will integrate TransitScreens at the 400-acre smart city it is building in Denver, Peña Station Next. Sitting near a rail stop in between the Denver International Airport and downtown Denver, the project currently has one completed office building, occupied by Panasonic, but will have many more components delivering over the next 10 to 20 years. The smart city will have features such as autonomous shuttles, a solar grid, citywide WiFi, smart kitchens, and with the latest partnership, TransitScreens.

Read more at: Bisnow.