Private Shuttle Service Bridj Expands to Brighton, Washington Square

Image via Bridj

A year after its launch, data-driven shuttle service Bridj will expand its service Brighton and Washington Square starting June 1, the company announced Tuesday.

“In the last 5 months, and have seen tens of thousands of app downloads,” Bridj said on its website. “Our long time passengers have shown us incredible support and loyalty, and we’re happy to increase the service to provide many of these folks a pickup and drop-off locations that gets them even closer to their front door. Plus, we’ll also be able to reach new riders in an area of our city that has seen explosive population growth over the past few years.”

Bridj, which began in Brookline, tailors its routes using data and algorithms to run shuttles through areas of greatest demand. Washington Square and Brighton will join Allston, Coolidge Corner, Kendall Square, Back Bay, the Financial District, and the Seaport District as neighborhoods serviced by the Cambridge-based company.

“Despite people’s best claims, when we look at how we introduce service, we take anywhere from 15 to 19 different data streams, analyze that neighborhood—we are not looking at signs ups and saying ‘where do people want to go?,’ we are looking at everything from census data to social media data,” CEO Matthew George told Boston Magazine last year. “When we go into a new market we really understand where people are traveling to. We have solid orders of magnitude. Then we introduce routes based on that.

As Boston tested, a Bridj trip from Brookline to Kendall Square is roughly 10 minutes faster than a ride on the MBTA’s Green and Red Lines.