A new system to provide on-demand transport is to be tried out in this year’s Orkney International Science Festival.

The system uses software to link passengers to the nearest car going to their chosen destination, and routes the car to collect them. It does so while taking account of the time constraints of both passenger and driver.

The system has been developed by the company Simply Connect whose founders Neil Brown and Galen Brown lived in Orkney for many years. Neil devised some of the core ideas by looking at how public transport currently works: what works well and what could be improved.