Before I start, thanks again for reading! By subscribing you get access to interesting business ideas straight to your inbox each week.

They’ll range from side hustles you can run outside of your 9-5 to fintech apps and everything in between. Please do subscribe and share with anyone you think might enjoy these.

The aim of the newsletter is to document the business ideas swirling around my head in the hopes that one of them sparks enough excitement that I work on it. At that time, the newsletter will come to an end. In the meantime feel free to take any idea I post or maybe it’ll even give you some inspiration for something you can start!

Estimated reading time - 4 minutes

Background (The problem)

I’ve always been quite an anxious person, not always, but certainly in specific situations. But I’m sure some people have much worse anxiety or other reasons why being in certain places or positions makes them uncomfortable.

I’m not alone in this. Many people find public transport systems anxiety-inducing, overwhelming and sometimes simply too confusing. There are lots of apps out there which help plan journeys. Think Apple maps, Google maps, Waze, Citymapper just to name a few. But these are all map-based, they tell you which train line to get, which bus number to jump on etc.

But using public transport isn’t just anxiety-inducing for some because of not knowing where to go, it’s about not knowing what to do or how to do it. This is doubled when you’re somewhere unfamiliar, think going on holiday to a foreign country and using their underground system. Imagine being a tourist in London and not understanding why everyone get on the escallator and stands on the right!

(I feel like each and every one of these ideas will also involve a strange British nuance that I have to explain to international readers)

In London when you get on an escallator you stand on the right so people who are in a rush can walk past you on the left. It works a treat and everyone, I mean everyone abides by it for fear of being tutted at.

The idea:

An app that guides you how to use different public transport system using images, text popups and potentially augmented reality through your phone camera.

Instead of just a map the app would take you through everything you need to know about using the system. How and where to buy tickets, how to use the tickets, what things to look out for in terms of signs, local customs and the do’s and don’ts. AR could be used to augment directions onto your phone screen showing you which direction to take in an underground system, which side of the road a bus stop is at etc.

There have been other apps that have been tried, for example, ‘Exit Strategy: NYC’ but they don’t often cover multiple regions they are specific to let’s say the NYC public transport system, Paris etc.

I’m thinking something similar to citymapper UI that has popup images which then highlight the thing you’re in need of. Images of the bus stop you need to wait at, whether you need to flag down the driver, or any other small considerations which may cause someone to be anxious.

The branding could be aimed at a niche for those with anxiety but broad and multifunctional enough to be used by anyone travelling to a new city.

Risks and Opportunities:

The Risks:

• Plenty of competitors in the market aimed at helping you navigate so it’s a tough market to stand out in. Even when you have a unique twist.

• There’s a risk that providing some information may be incorrect or even that an element of a tube or bus system would change without you knowing so it doesn’t get updated in the app.

• Monetising the app could be perceived as taking advantage of those with anxiety if that’s how it’s marketed.

The Opportunities:

• Growing urban market in all countries where public transport systems are more common.

• The gradual move away from personal vehicles, driving more people to use busses, trains, and subways with the introduction of low emissions zones and more investment in these services.

• Increasing prevalence of anxiety, especially among the younger generations impacted by covid and working from home.

Monetization / Profitability:

Apps are tricky things to monetise, people don’t want to pay for an app before trying it and the market has set the standard for quite high-quality products without needing to pay at all.

That being said, the most common monetization strategy for apps which could apply to this idea would be ‘freemium’. Where you offer a free version of the product maybe just with certain locations or maybe only map functionality and then ask users to pay for a premium version to access other features.

You could certainly drive additional revenue from users by allowing them to ‘unlock’ new cities or transport methods

Profitability is likely a real issue with this idea. It would take large upfront costs to map out the working of lots of different transport systems. You would likely have to pay someone in each location to note the intricacies of that city.

Rating and review:

Potential Profitability (2/5)

As with all apps, it would be hard to drive revenue without first having free users.Many costs involved with physically mapping and taking photos of different places throughout the world.

Ease of implementation (2/5)

Requires lots of development to provide a user experience which adds value on top of existing map apps. You would need to consider ways to get around having the app working offline for when you’re in a subway system with no GPS.

Scalability (4/5)

If you were able to provide product-market fit in one city I think it would translate well to others. There are enough major metro areas where demand could be replicated, branching out after successfully developing a following in one city.

Novelty (3.5/5)

I think the idea is quite novel. There certainly isn’t a product quite like it out there (but there’s probably a reason for that). This idea might not be the one but there’s certainly a growing market for products and services catered to those with anxiety caused by specific situations.

Overall score (11.5/25)

I hope if nothing else that you found this an interesting read, even if you think the idea is awful. Again another idea I won’t be going forward with but as always…on to the next one.