WisBusiness: Planes, trains and automobiles — A travel service that coordinates them all

By Tyler Stevenson

For WisBusiness.com

BAYSIDE – Got your ticket. But now what? Whether flying to Paris, riding the metro downtown, or hopping on the train to Boston, people use many modes of transportation daily.

How to travel efficiently — from origin to destination — is the door-to-door philosophy of Scopia, a Bayside travel company that is launching an intermodal travel solution.

Scopia is designed to search all modes of transportation to find the shortest, most cost-effective travel itinerary anywhere worldwide.

Owner and CEO Ophir Ben-Yitschak got the idea when working as a vice president at a travel agency in Israel.

“I received a call from a client who complained that our travel agent booked him on flights with a four-hour connection in Europe, when there were trains running straight from the airport to his final destination.”

The lightbulb went on for Ben-Yitschak.

“That was the moment I thought to myself: ‘If only there was a way to show these intermodal connections automatically to reduce the time necessary to search all the different possibilities of getting from one place to another.’ ”

According to Jim Graziano, chief marketing officer for Scopia, most travel sites are built by providers to promote their products and services first, and create a unified travel experience second.

“Scopia is built by travel agents to serve travelers. It’s an intermodal world, and we are mode-agnostic which means our only purpose is to serve our customers by delivering the best solution in terms or rates, travel time and convenience.”

Graziano said he has been surprised how difficult it has been to gain understanding on how Scopia differs from current options.

“It is not another travel web site like that which currently exists. It goes much deeper and offers a much more personalized, integrated experience,” he said.

Many parts of Scopia will be free to consumers, Graziano said. However, the main focus is to provide personalized travel arrangements.

There will be a subscription-based service where members can create a profile of needs and Scopia will find options that will address those needs.

“Think of this as sort of an E-Harmony for travelers seeking the best options,” Graziano said.

Travel agencies will be able to use Scopia by purchasing annual licensing, or by providing “white label” use. This allows agencies to have the program in the background of their site for customer’s use.

Scopia is one of 21 companies competing in the finalist round of the Governor’s Business Plan Contest. The contest is organized by the Wisconsin Technology Council and will award about $150,000 in cash and in-kind prizes to help fund growth in Wisconsin start-up companies.

— Stevenson is a student in the Department of Life Sciences Communication at the UW-Madison.


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