Trufi Association offers unparalleled opportunities to understand urban mobility through our research services.
We serve as a vital bridge between research designers and local communities with deep-rooted connections and local knowledge of transport systems in global South cities.
By engaging directly with local communities (often OpenStreetMap communities), and with aggregated data from our applications, we harness invaluable firsthand knowledge to inform research designs. We ensure that research objectives align with the real-world experiences of those utilizing the transport network. This leads to well-informed, contextually relevant research that benefits both the local residents and the broader academic or institutional goals.
Empowering Research for a Connected World
Our partners include the World Bank, GIZ, and others who have trusted Trufi to facilitate impactful change through research-driven insights. Our dynamic team collaborates with communities, utilizing Trufi apps and robust methodologies to uncover transportation insights that shape better cities. With proven success, we’re your partners for producing valid research results.
Mobility Research Scenarios
Our experience, expertise, and applications are adaptable to a range of research scenarios.
- User-Centric Surveys: To engage transport users, push surveys through Trufi apps, gathering valuable firsthand data.
- Global South Transport Mapping: For detailed analysis of transportation networks in cities across the global South, we develop GTFS data that includes the sometimes elusive informal transport services. See our GTFS services.
- Agent-Based Model (ABM) Enrichment: Enrich ABMs with Trufi’s GTFS data and aggregated trip request data from our apps, providing valuable and previously unobtainable insights into informal transport networks and commuter behaviors, improving modeling accuracy.
- Estimating Transport Carbon Emissions: Utilize innovative approaches to measure carbon emissions in transportation networks, aiding eco-friendly mobility planning.
- Route Stress Analysis for Optimal Cycling Paths: Utilizing advanced methodologies to assess route stress factors, shaping cyclist-friendly pathways for safer and more enjoyable urban cycling.
- Comprehensive Field Research: We coordinate and conduct on-ground research, establishing baselines data and showing the results of events or interventions.
- Inclusive Transport Research: Expertise in conducting research that addresses gender, people with disabilities, safety and security, inclusive route planning for marginalized communities, and other considerations that are often overlooked.
- Data Source Identification: We locate and collate urban mobility data worldwide.
- Innovative Data Collection Tools: Develop apps and chatbots for enumerator-based data collection, optimizing accuracy. See our Chatbot services.
- Participatory Research Approaches: Leverage their deep connections with local communities to facilitate participatory research methods, where community members are actively involved in the research process, from problem identification to data collection, analysis, and solution implementation.
- Geospatial Data Collection and Analysis: Utilize our expertise in mapping and GTFS data creation to collect and analyze geospatial data related to transportation networks, land use patterns, and other factors that influence mobility.
- Accessibility and Equity Assessments: Conduct research focused on identifying barriers to accessibility and evaluating the equity of transportation systems, particularly for marginalized groups such as people with disabilities, low-income communities, and other vulnerable populations.
- Multi-modal Transportation Studies: Explore the integration of different modes of transportation, including informal modes, and their impacts on mobility, accessibility, and sustainability.
- Behavioral Studies: Leverage the user data and insights gathered through our applications to study travel behavior, mode choice preferences, and the factors influencing transportation decisions.
- Interdisciplinary Collaborations: Foster collaborations between researchers from different disciplines, such as urban planning, geography, economics, and social sciences, to address complex transportation challenges from multiple perspectives.
- Pilot Testing and Prototype Evaluation: Provide a platform for testing and evaluating innovative transportation solutions, technologies, or policies through pilot programs and prototypes before full-scale implementation.
- Longitudinal Studies: Leverage our long-standing presence in various communities to conduct longitudinal studies that track changes in transportation patterns, behaviors, and impacts over time.