Rootable.

The problem

Travelers with mobility constraints face a broken promise. Existing transit apps — Google Maps, Citymapper, TfL Go, Moovit — treat accessibility as a checkbox filter, labeling a route "accessible" on incomplete data and then failing the user at the point of travel. None signal how confident they are in their own recommendation, so an elderly or wheelchair-using traveler cannot calibrate the real risk.

The consequences are not mild. For a wheelchair user, a failed journey means missed work; for an anxious elderly traveler, one stranded trip can end independent travel altogether. Accessibility data is fragmented across sources, no app admits what it doesn't know, and no fallback plan arrives alongside the primary recommendation.

The solution

Rootable (RoutAble) is an accessibility-first journey copilot for Edinburgh, built specifically for Lothian Buses and Edinburgh Trams. Accessibility is the primary reasoning layer rather than a filter applied afterward — route selection flows out of whether a specific user can actually make the journey.

Every recommendation carries a plain-language explanation, a confidence label (Verified / Likely / Unconfirmed), and a pre-computed fallback so a Plan B always ships with Plan A. The product is governed by six hard-wired responsible-AI rules: no invented facilities, no absolute safety language, consent-based profiles, confidence labels, human-in-the-loop, and simplicity over speed.

How it works

Rootable runs a two-mode retrieval pipeline. Mode 1 draws on GTFS transport data from Transport for Edinburgh (stops, routes, journey times); Mode 2 draws on an accessibility knowledge base (step-free status, lift operational status, gradients, vehicle type, live disruptions). The user's accessibility profile — wheelchair status, max walk distance, lift dependency, gradient tolerance — is injected directly into the system prompt at session start rather than retrieved.

The model reasons only over retrieved context and states uncertainty explicitly rather than guessing. Voice input uses Whisper with a manual review step before submission. The prototype runs on a Lovable-hosted React app with OpenAI via serverless functions, evaluated across a 37-scenario set that reached zero accessibility hallucinations.

Who it's for

End users are travelers who are underserved by mainstream transit apps: elderly travelers, wheelchair and disabled users, neurodivergent users, tourists, non-native English speakers, and carers. The two hero personas are Margaret, a 68–80 Edinburgh resident with a walking stick and low digital confidence, and Robert, a working wheelchair user for whom a failed journey carries professional cost.

The business is B2B2C. Paying customers are councils, transport operators, and universities — including a Council Accessibility Officer delivering on Inclusive Transport Strategy commitments, and a University Disability Services Manager under PSBAR compliance pressure.

Why it matters

The stakes are both human and economic. The UK has 16.8M disabled adults, the "Purple Pound" represents £274B in spending power, and the Inclusive Transport Strategy mandates equal access by 2030 with £52M/yr in funding. The EU Accessibility Act is already in force. Transport failure for these users leads downstream to social isolation, not just a missed trip.

Rootable is designed to graduate from a consumer app into infrastructure across four phases — from accessibility software, to SaaS licensing for councils and universities, to API and white-label distribution, to an accessibility intelligence layer within the smart-cities market. Its Edinburgh-native specificity is a deliberate moat at MVP scale.

At a glance

Project

Rootable

Built by

Tirtha Dasgupta

One-liner

Rootable is an accessibility-focused journey companion for travelers with mobility constraints.