Press Archive

TEXXI: The Transit Exchange

A Commodity Futures Exchange for Transportation

TEXXI (Transit Exchange XXI Century) pioneered the concept of treating roadspace-time as a tradeable commodity—applying financial exchange principles to urban mobility. Conceived in 2003 and publicly deployed in 2006, the system predated the smartphone app era (we launched on the O2 XDA before the iPhone existed) and anticipated the ridehail revolution by nearly a decade.

15+
Publications
6
Countries
2003
Concept Origin
2006
First Deployment

Texxi Smartphone App Demo (2006)

O2 XDA prototype — developed before the iPhone launch

Major Publications

Jun/Jul 2007
Plenty Magazine
United States

Ticket to Ride

"It's a solution any 14-year-old would love: The challenges of foreign oil dependency, global warming, and gridlock are not so big that you can't text-message your way out of them." Feature article exploring how Texxi could revolutionize urban transit globally.

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Nov 2007
The Guardian
United Kingdom

UK Travel News: Texxi Taxi Sharing

Coverage of the innovative SMS-based cab-sharing system operating in Liverpool and expanding to other UK locations.

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Nov 2007
Financial Times
United Kingdom

Texxi: Transit Innovation

Business and technology coverage of the Texxi demand-responsive transit model and its potential market applications.

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May 2007
CBS News
United States

Technology: Text Messaging Revolutionizes Transit

National coverage of how mobile technology is being leveraged to create more efficient urban transportation systems.

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Mar 2009
Toronto Star
Canada

Frugal Cab Patrons Hail Texxi

"If you have ever waited an eternity for a cab on a freezing Toronto night, then fought others when one finally stopped before paying a small fortune to get you home, a U.K. taxi-sharing system called Texxi might be the solution."

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Apr 2009
Holyrood Magazine
Scotland

Increased Demand: Advances in Communication Leading to New Ideas in Transport

In-depth feature on demand-responsive transport innovation. "Texxi was trialled in Liverpool from March to September 2006, and has been used in locations on the Isle of Wight since July 2008."

Jul 2008
Isle of Wight County Press
United Kingdom

Get Home Safely with Taxi Text

"A new text service is to be launched in the coming weeks to help Islanders get home safely after a night out. TEXXI, rolled out in connection with the Lucie Blackman Trust, will allow revellers to text an Isle of Wight Council licensed taxi."

Jul 2005
Green Car Congress
United States

Texting SMS for Shared Taxi Rides

Early coverage of the environmental benefits of the Texxi model, highlighting reduced congestion, fuel use, and emissions through intelligent ride-sharing.

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Prior Art: Facebook Patent Comparison

Analysis comparing Texxi's 2006 public deployment and filings against Facebook's location-sharing patent

Facebook Patent 7,809,805 — Priority date: 28 Feb 2007, Granted: 5 Oct 2010
Anything public before 28 Feb 2007 is potential §102(b) prior art under pre-AIA rules.
Facebook Claim Element Matching Texxi Disclosure Notes
A mobile client transmits a location-based status to a server Texxi rider sends an SMS containing destination code; the server associates that message with the handset's origin cell / GPS fix Origin location is implicitly or explicitly sent with the status message
Server stores the check-in in a location database "Every single trip is logged. ... Texxi Travellogs" Same function: persisting the user's geo-tagged update
Server shares a friend's location with other authorised users Texxi Groups let riders restrict matches to "friends and friends-of-friends" and expose location only within that circle Disclosure of selective sharing for social-graph subsets
Client retrieves nearby friends' locations Texxi smartphone demo (O2 XDA video, 2006) shows a map with black squares marking other group members around the user (pull or push) Visual embodiment, predating 2007
Optional street-address extraction from raw co-ordinates Texxi patent claims "responding ... with ride information" including pick-up address and cross-street for both driver and passenger Reverse-geocode step is inherent in giving a driver a pick-up address
Result: Each limitation of Facebook's independent claim 1 appears to be anticipated (or at the very least rendered obvious) by Texxi's 2006 filing and public use.

Academic & Industry Recognition

Apr 2006
TRL Limited / PIARC
United Kingdom

An Intelligent Journey to the Olympic Games, 2012: A Documentary

Award submission for PIARC Prizes 2007 (Road Safety category) citing Texxi as a key example of innovative taxi-sharing schemes for the future of intelligent transport systems. The paper envisioned Texxi-style systems as part of the 2012 London Olympics infrastructure.

2007
Fleet Technology
United States

Sidebar: TEXXI

"Conceived while co-founder Eric Masaba was working for a hedge fund, Texxi is credit contagion theory modified to maximizing vehicle resources during spikes in demand."

May 2007
Brisbane Times
Australia

Rhyme or Reason Blog: Texxi Model

Discussion of potential Australian implementation of the Texxi system, noting the high adoption rate of text messaging in the Australian market.

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Industry Interest

Reid Hoffman

Co-founder, LinkedIn

"I'm very supportive of your idea in concept."

Institute of Economic Affairs

UK Think Tank

Multiple lunches and seminars hosted discussing the free-market transit model.

International Investor Interest

Multi-Region

Inquiries from Texas, California, North Carolina, Australia, and both Bush and Clinton administration contacts.

TEXXI Timeline

1992–1993

National Grid: Weather effects on electricity transmission & demand management

1993–1995

Royal Air Force Officer Cadet Flying Programme, University of London

1995

Imperial College sponsored project: "The Role of Computers in Transportation Technology"

1997

Project Lugh: Ridesharing project at École Centrale de Lyon using distributed encrypted databases

1998–2003

Financial operations in investment banks and hedge funds; front/middle/back office systems

2003–2004

Xaraf LLC: Credit Default Swap trading and Capital Structure Arbitrage — credit contagion ideas emerge

2004

TEXXI founded — Transit Exchange concept crystallizes

2006

Liverpool pilot launch (Mar–Sep); O2 XDA smartphone app demonstrated

2008

Isle of Wight deployment with Lucie Blackman Trust partnership

The Concept

TEXXI pioneered the "Transit Exchange" concept—treating roadspace-time as a tradeable commodity analogous to airspace slots or electromagnetic spectrum. The system applies financial market mechanisms (futures, yield curves, market makers, demand-responsive pricing) to urban transportation, creating what we termed the "RoadSpaceTime Continuum."

"What if we treated roadspace like airspace?"

TEXXI = Transit Exchange XXIst Century