Aalto Shuttle Concept - Executive Summary

8/3/2019 Aalto Shuttle Concept - Executive Summary

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Aalto

Shuttleby

Martela

An Aalto-

IDBM-Martela

Project

Anna Hämäläinen, Maud

Bocquillod, Jemina

Lehmuskoski, Jasmin

Honkanen , Maritta Toivola,

Tushar Malhotra, Pekka

Sihvola



1

“When you set out on your journey to Ithaca, Pray that the road is long and full of adventure and

knowledge!” -Constantine Peter Cavafy

“Some roads aren‟t meant to be travelled alone!” -Proverbs

The missed chances

Bert is a doctoral student at Aalto University. He is conducting research for his thesis on “Urban planning in developing countries”. Kathy has recently joined the Aalto School of Economics as a researcher. She specializes in developing

economies. On his way back to Otaniemi after attending a seminar in Helsinki, Bert was sitting right behind Kathy (who was travelling to Otaniemi to meet a friend) on the bus. A„Hello‟ could have opened possibilities for an interesting collaboration between the two. Of course, it never happened.Who speaks to strangers on a bus?

Thomas lives in Otaniemi and studies at the School of Science. He has chosen a course at the School of Art and Design, the classes start at 8:00 AM. Thomas barely manages to catch the 7:00AM bus and has to skip breakfast. If only it was possible to grab a sandwich and coffee on the bus…



2

Introduction – The challenges

Based on our research, observations and the insights gainedfrom talking to various stakeholders of the Aalto communityincluding students, teachers and members of theadministrative staff, we identified several challenges facing

Aalto today. Among those, the key ones that we chose tofocus on are the following:

Traveling between the campuses and surroundingareas, often even multiple times in a day, is a necessityfor many students, faculty and other members of thecommunity. Using the public transport for this purposeis seen as inefficient, cumbersome and a waste of time.There is a clear need for better, more convenient intra-campus transportation at Aalto University, especiallygiven the distributed campus.

There is an even greater and urgent need at Aalto tocreate spaces and opportunities for bringing togetherpeople from different schools and backgrounds in arelaxed, social and inspirational context. This is evenmore critical in light of the fact that Aalto intends todevelop „interdisciplinarity‟ as a core competence andvalue.

We believe that the above mentioned challenges / needs, andespecially their intersection area, present a very interestingand viable business opportunity for Martela to step-in andaddress those issues. The following sections introduce andexplain our proposal to tap this opportunity.

Solution – Aalto Shuttle by Martela

Aalto Shuttle by Martela, aka SAM (Shuttle, Aalto, Martela),is a fun, social, inspiring and convenient way to travel betweenthe Aalto campuses and the surrounding areas. However, it is

much more than just a means of transport - It‟s a space that is always „on the move‟ (literally!), a space that fostersserendipity!

Traveling to and between the campuses can provide a naturalopportunity where the aforementioned interactions betweenthe people from different disciplines and backgrounds couldtake place.

The shuttle could be a perfect platform for socialising, sharinginformation and news about events and happenings at the

university, working or simply relaxing. Students, faculty and / or researchers could use the shuttle to exhibit and advertisetheir projects, organize short workshops and lectures etc.Online broadcasts can be sent from the shuttle. What more?For the lazybones and those in a hurry SAM would even offercoffee and quick breakfast on-board in the mornings.

We want to stress the green values in this shuttle project.Some of the shuttle furniture could come e.g. from MartelaOutlet. We could explore options for greener fuel or greenenergy.

Making all of this a reality, however, will require immensesupport and from Martela which, true to its brand promise,would create the inspiring spaces inside the shuttle that wouldelicit „Wows‟ and smiles from every single commuter whohops in!



3

The Business Model

Table 1 (page 4) presents a preliminary Business ModelCanvas (Osterwalder and Pigneur) representation of theproposed solution.In short, we propose Martela to create and run an intra-campus shuttle service for Aalto University. While

transportation might look like an area totally unrelated toMartela‟s core competence, it would make sense from thecustomer‟s perspective for Martela to provide the end to endservice. For this, Martela could partner with transportationcompanies or service providers to handle the areas where itlacks expertise. The possible revenue streams for Martelainclude the usage fees, advertisements, product sales on-board the bus etc.

Martela‟s stated mission is 'Better Interiors'. In addition to thehome and workplace interior solutions that it currently

provides, why not make transportation interiors better, too?

What’s in it for Martela?

Besides having the potential to open up a new revenuestream for Martela, we believe this project also has a greatpotential for Martela to enter and explore a totally new marketsegment. Also, being very visible and tangible in nature, theshuttle service will provide a great platform for Martela tocreate awareness for its brand and a showcase its products.

Aalto shuttle also serves as a prototype or testing platform forMartela. The company can test new product innovations onthe shuttle and get feedback before entering into production.

What’s in it for Aalto & the Aalto community?

As already mentioned, the university benefits from this ventureby being able to provide a convenient and effective mode ofintra-campus transport to the members of the Aaltocommunity. But the real value goes much beyond the obvious!If executed well, the shuttle service can serve the pressing

need for providing a vibrant and inspiring space for inter-disciplinary interaction & social encounters. Further, theshuttle service will help in creating intrigue and awarenessabout „Aalto‟ in the local community.

Future suggestions

In future the underlying service concept of providing „InspiringMoving Spaces‟ can be expanded and applied to other formsof transportation including, say, metro carriages, small orprivate ferries etc. in collaboration with suitable partners.

Another direction to explore the SAM Shuttle concept is anextension of the experience to the shuttle terminals that couldbe turned into „inspiring‟ waiting lounges. These could belocated e.g. in Kamppi, Rautatieasema, Itäkeskus, Arabia,Leppävaara and Otaniemi.

There is a growing trend of companies and institutions havingdistributed campuses or offices even within the same city andif successful, Martela can scale the service and provide asimilar shuttle service to other companies and institutions.



4

VALUE

PROPOSITION

KEY RESOURCES CHANNELS

CUSTOMERS PARTNERS

REVENUE STREAMS / VALUE FOR MARTELA COST STRUCTURE

RELATIONSHIPS KEY ACTIVITIES

• Fun, social,

inspiring and

convenient mode

of intra-campustravel for the Aalto

community

• Effective andefficient use of

time while

travelling between

campuses /

surrounding areas

• Creates brandintrigue and

awareness forAalto University

• Shuttles

themselves are a

very tangible and

visible medium • Advertising within

university

campuses / through

AYY etc.

• Social Media

• Co-creation withAalto University &

the Aalto

Community

• Aalto

University. The

end users of the

service are the

members of Aalto

community –

students, faculty,

administrative

staff, guests /

visitors etc. –

who seek a fun,

inspiring, social

and convenient

way to travel

• Option to allowgeneral public

for a reasonable

fare, in future

• Brand building for Martela

•

Usage Fees from the commuters (which could besubsidized for certain categories of users, like students, by

the university, AYY etc.

• Product Sales aboard the bus

• Advertisements / Sponsors

• Initial conceptualization, design and ‘Face-

Lifting’ costs for the shuttle • Recurring operational costs for running and

maintaining the shuttle service

• Periodic refurbishing and rejuvenation

costs, based on events / other requirements

• Operate intra-

campus shuttle

service (with apartner)

•Provide inspiringinteriors for the

shuttle(s) based on

themes /

requirements

• Transport

companies / Service

providers to take

care of actually

operating the shuttleservice since that’s

not Martela’s core-

competence

• Sponsors – forexteriors / interiors;

Temporary

promotions / Events

• Event management

companies

• Beverage / Catering

companies / serviceproviders

• Aalto University

• Concepts, designs

and products for

creating inspiringand comfortable

spaces in the shuttle

Table 1 : Osterwalder’s Business Model Canvas for Martela

Documents

Aalto Shuttle Concept - Executive Summary