Mobility · Serverless Platform
How We Built a Serverless Mobility Platform for Shared Bus Travel Across the Nordics
Project Snapshot
- Client : Norway-based mobility technology company
- Industry : Logistics and shared mobility
- Region / Market : Nordics — Norway, Sweden and Denmark
- Platforms : Web, driver app, admin portal
- Technologies : Python, Go, React, Vue.js, AWS (AppSync, DynamoDB, Lambda, EventBridge, S3, SES, SNS, Secrets Manager), Azure DevOps
The Impact
10x
Profitability increase via crowdsourced routing that eliminates empty return trips
2x
Turnover growth reported by a transport operator using the platform
50%
Reduction in planning time, driving growth through improved fleet utilization
3 countries
Norway, Sweden and Denmark running on one platform
Overview
A Norway-based mobility technology company set out to modernize shared bus travel across the Nordics by making group transportation easier to organize, book, and operate. Its platform connects three groups:
- travelers who create, manage and join shared trips
- bus and coach operators coordinating vehicles, drivers and bookings, and
- planners, finance and administration teams running day-to-day operations.
Business Challenges
Seven pressures showed up as the operation scaled.
- Fragmented access across operational systems. Drivers needed to work across multiple systems and credentials. The business wanted a simpler access experience while maintaining appropriate permissions across different roles and modules.
- Planning became harder as operations grew. Planners were managing trips through a basic list-based interface. As the number of trips, vehicles, and drivers increased, it became harder to see the full operational picture and take action quickly.
- Cross-company collaboration created data concerns. Sharing trips between transport companies was central to the business model, but it introduced challenges around privacy, access, coordination, and data accuracy.
- Finance workflows required too much manual effort. Customer invoices and employee timesheets required manual compilation, and the administrative burden increased as trip volume grew.
- Real-time fleet visibility was limited. Operations teams needed more reliable insight into vehicle location and trip activity, but existing workflows did not provide the GPS integration required for consistent real-time tracking.
- Distance records were difficult to maintain. Reliable mileage information was needed for operational reporting and downstream processes, but consistent tracking logic was not yet in place.
- The customer journey also needed to scale. Travelers needed a smooth way to create and book trips, pay using appropriate regional payment methods, and receive digital tickets without adding complexity to the operating model.
The pressure landed on the same people every day: planners piecing the operating picture together by hand, drivers moving between systems to start a shift, and finance teams rebuilding the same invoices and timesheets after every trip.
Running a mobility operation on disconnected systems?
Bring it to a 30-minute call — we will come back with an architecture and a scoped estimate.
What We Built
Brain Station 23 built the platform around a serverless, event-driven architecture on AWS. It carries a journey from trip creation and booking through payment, ticketing, planning and driver operations, and into the invoicing and timesheet work that follows. The modules below are what the platform runs today.
Serverless, event-driven architecture
Amazon DynamoDB provided scalable data storage, while Amazon AppSync exposed business information through GraphQL. AWS Lambda functions written in Python and Go handled backend logic, with Amazon EventBridge coordinating workflows between services, designed to scale as activity increased.
Centralized authentication and access control
The platform introduced centralized authentication together with role and module-based authorization. Administrators could control which users were allowed to access specific areas and functionality, creating a more structured access model across different operational roles.
Secure cross-company trip sharing
Transport companies could share trips while maintaining clearer access boundaries around sensitive information, creating a more structured digital foundation for the collaboration the shared-mobility model depends on.
GDPR-aligned data handling
All data exchanges and storage use industry-standard encryption, with role-based access limiting who can view sensitive trip, payment, and personal data. Data Processing Agreements were verified with EU clients during onboarding, and the platform was configured to support GDPR compliance across Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.
Booking and regional payment integration
Travelers could create and reserve trips through the platform. Vipps was integrated for Norway, while Stripe supported payment requirements as the business expanded into Sweden and Denmark.
Digital QR ticketing
The platform automatically generated QR codes for tickets and attached them to downloadable PDF tickets. The QR codes could then be scanned during boarding to verify the ticket and grant access.
Visual planning
A dedicated planning interface gave operational teams a consolidated view of trips, buses, and drivers. Planners could work from one visual environment and perform bulk actions instead of relying on a basic list of individual trips.
Connected driver experience
The driver-facing application provided access to schedules, trip information, notifications, and operational updates. GPS integration enabled real-time vehicle tracking, while distance monitoring captured mileage information for more reliable operational records.
Automated invoicing and timesheets
Trip information could feed directly into downstream administrative processes. Customer invoices and employee timesheets could be generated automatically after trips, reducing repetitive manual work for finance and operations teams.
Automated notifications
Amazon SES and SNS supported automated communication across relevant workflows, helping users receive updates as trip events and operational changes occurred.
Secure storage and credential management
Amazon S3 supported storage and processing of uploaded trip imagery. AWS Secrets Manager was used to protect sensitive information such as API keys and payment credentials.
Web, admin, and driver experiences
Vue.js supported responsive user-facing experiences, while React was used for the admin dashboard and planning interfaces. Together these applications created separate experiences for different user groups while keeping them connected to the same operational platform.
CI/CD with Azure DevOps
Azure DevOps supported version control and CI/CD workflows, helping the development team manage releases and collaboration in a structured way.
The Results
Business Outcomes
A transport operator using the platform publicly reports 2x turnover growth and 10x profit growth since its partnership began, and reports cutting planning time by more than 50%. The booking-first payment model shortened the time between service commitment and cash collection, reducing Days Sales Outstanding by 30 days, with US$30K in verified booking-first payments improving cash liquidity by bringing payment earlier into the journey.
Technical Outcomes
Booking, payments, ticketing, planning, driver operations, fleet tracking, invoicing and timesheets now run on one serverless platform across three Nordic markets. Automated invoicing, timesheets, notifications and distance recording reduced repetitive administrative work, GPS-based tracking gave operational teams live insight into trips and vehicle locations, and the platform met GDPR and European data protection requirements across all three markets from day one. Major operators using it include fleets of 200+ coaches, while one customer reports operating up to 200 trips per day.
Shared mobility is not simply a booking problem. Every journey connects travelers, drivers, planners, vehicles, transport companies, payments, finance processes, and real-time operational decisions.
By bringing those workflows into one cloud-based platform, Brain Station 23 helped the company create a stronger foundation for scaling its mobility model across markets without multiplying disconnected systems and manual processes. The project shows how custom software can connect the digital customer experience with the complex physical operations happening behind it.
Ready to Connect Your Mobility Operation?
You might run a transport fleet still planning trips in spreadsheets. You might be a mobility platform that has outgrown its first booking system. Or you might be scaling into a new market and need the compliance groundwork in place. In every case, the first step is the same.
Book a 30-minute call with Brain Station 23. Bring your current booking, planning or fleet workflow, and we will come back with a proposed architecture, a delivery plan, and a scoped estimate for your build.
Running a mobility operation on disconnected systems?
Bring it to a 30-minute call — we will come back with an architecture and a scoped estimate.
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