​Hyperlight Systems, in partnership with TransLink, is proud to be the recipient of the 2018 Innovation Award as part of CUTA’s Annual Leadership Awards Program.
Every year, the Canadian Urban Transportation Authority (CUTA) runs the CUTA Leadership Awards Program to recognize the achievements of Canadian transit systems, business members, employees and volunteers. This year’s winners were announced at the CUTA Annual Conference and Canadian Transit Show, which took place in Toronto on November 21, 2018.
​ 
​In 2016, South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority, TransLink, was faced with a challenge: providing customers, who were unable to tap their payment cards, an equitable and independent way to proceed through the newly installed faregates. In order to overcome this challenge, TransLink partnered with Hyperlight Systems, to design and implement the world’s first hands-free faregate solution. True innovation was at the heart of this process. TransLink and Hyperlight Systems collaborated to reimagine a known accessibility barrier by transforming faregates into a seamless mobility experience with wireless technology.

Hyperlight Systems, in partnership with TransLink, took home the Innovation Award alongside the York Region Transit, Metrolinx, and the Toronto Transit Commission. Winning this award strengthens Hyperlight Systems’ standing as an industry leader in transforming the way transit is offered across Canada.
“We are thrilled to have won the 2018 CUTA Innovation Award in partnership with TransLink,” says Ashish Sachdeva, CEO of Hyperlight Systems. “We enjoyed bringing our vision of smarter, hands-free public transit to life through our very successful public private partnership with TransLink”.
The Innovation Award is designed to highlight a company that is forging new ground in the way transit services are offered across Canada. Sitting within the Corporate Leadership award category, CUTA’s Innovation Award looks for companies with technological and process innovations that break from convention and create major improvements for transit products and services.

Hyperlight Systems team is thrilled to have won the 2018 Innovation Entrepreneurship Award – British Columbia from Startup Canada.
This award placed Hyperlight Systems among the top 10 entrepreneurs from BC to be recognized for outstanding achievement and contribution to the Canadian tech sector. With candidates competing on a number of levels, the annual awards program recognizes startups who are driving impact and demonstrating excellence in Canada’s entrepreneurship and innovation community.

Hyperlight Systems took home the Innovation Award in recognition of the team’s industry-leading Hands-Free Accessibility Platform, providing universal accessibility through IoT technology. To win the Innovation Award, a company must not only exhibit excellence in innovation but demonstrate the application of new knowledge or technology in solving real world problems. This may include new business practices, business models and strategies around organizational development or product and services creativity.
In 2016, Hyperlight Systems partnered with South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority, TransLink, to deploy the world’s first Hands-free Faregate Access system, providing seamless customer experience for transit users.
“We are very proud and thankful to be the recipient of the 2018 Startup Canada Innovation Entrepreneurship Award,” says Ashish Sachdeva, CEO of Hyperlight Systems. “We look forward to building on our success to further transform cities into barrier-free and inclusive environment for everyone.”
Hyperlight’s mission to provide access for everyone and everywhere aligns with the core of the award program’s mission, garnering the team a spot in the top 10.

 Author - Ashish Sachdeva
Hyperlight Systems is excited to be participating in Sidewalk Toronto, September 22, 2018. This event is centered around the accessibility of future cities and part of the cutting-edge urban development Waterfront Toronto.
           
Waterfront Toronto has joined efforts with Alphabet Sidewalk Labs in the innovative revitalization of Toronto’s waterfront area, the largest urban project in North America. Sidewalk Toronto is the beginning phase of the Eastern Waterfront with vision and objectives to create an inclusive community utilizing the latest in digital technology and sustainability for housing, businesses and transportation. The goal to create a neighborhood and society from the ground up where families can flourish and corporations can grow within a state-of-the-art district; reviving economic growth, increasing accessible transportation for everyone and producing an environmentally friendly urban development. Sidewalk Toronto will be the world’s leading example for urban regrowth.
 
Hyperlight will be showcasing our leading-edge technology in hands-free access for transportation systems. It is part of our vision statement to create a barrier-free access to public transit and to make sure disabilities are never a hindrance for anyone. The AODA - Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (2005) recognized the discrimination against people with disabilities in the province of Ontario. The purpose of the AODA is to develop, implement and enforce accessibility standards by 2025. Hyperlight can evaluate and provide solutions for achieving these goals as part of the Sidewalk Toronto Project.
 
It cannot be ignored urban developments that do not provide easily accessible public transportation have a significant economic impact on people with disabilities. In recent studies, it was found people with disabilities have over a 6% higher rate of unemployment than people without disabilities because of the inability to get to work. This type of number effects not only the economy but has a significant influence on the health and well-being of individuals and their families. To assist in the removal of these types of statistics, Hyperlight will be available at the Sidewalk Toronto Event, providing our knowledge and experience of successfully completed projects which implemented our products and services in the construction of accessible public transportation.
 
This event will be featuring the leading activists in community accessibility, Luke Anderson - Founder & Executive Director of the StopGap Foundation, Darren Bates - Founder of Smart Cities Library, and Maayan Ziv - Founder of the AccessNow Smartphone App. Co-Sponsor, Alphabet Sidewalk Labs, has combined teams of urbanist and technologist who led the post 9/11 urban revival and helped make Google one of the most impactful companies. Hyperlight is looking forward to combining our efforts and technology in bringing urban communities together.
 
We hope you can join us for the Sidewalk Toronto: The Future of More Accessible Cities: Saturday, September 22, 2018, 1:00 pm - 6:00 pm @ 307 Lake Shore Boulevard East, Toronto, ON M5A 1C1, Canada. Livestream of the event will be available online via the Sidewalk Toronto YouTube and Facebook pages.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeMZszvzwsXv1HkLvZmeZVw/featured
https://www.facebook.com/SidewalkToronto/
 
This is an exciting time inaccessible solutions and Hyperlight is leading the way in industry standard. Our objective is to become involved in projects that provide an excellent quality of life for all.

http://www.hyperlight.systems/
ttps://sidewalktoronto.ca/

What if something suddenly prevented you from taking public transportation to work, the store, or social engagements?  Many of us take this for granted, but persons with disabilities can’t always just swipe their access card at a turnstyle.

Hyperlight Systems harnesses the power of smart IoT technology to grant freedom for people around the world, allowing cities and transit systems to comply with the legal mandate to provide accessibility options to everyone.

Why Wireless IoT Technology is the Ideal Problem Solver

By integrating smart wireless technologies into existing access-control systems, Hyperlight developed the world's first hands-free access gate solution for public transit, that operates as seamlessly as if there were no fare gates at all.

Wireless technology makes access gates ‘smart’ and enables them to communicate with a fob or transit card that is RFID-enabled.  The mechanism is triggered by proximity as the user approaches the gate.  It’s even easy and economical to retrofit existing gates with RFID readers.

How Transportation Impacts Quality of Life

Leading authorities recognize the necessity for people of all abilities to use public services to enjoy a meaningful economic and social life.









​

​The United Nations recognizes that the evolving concept of disability “results from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.”

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights argued that transportation is key to connecting the poor, seniors and those with disabilities to vital resources. It calls "transportation equity" a civil right.

Accessibility is a Global Issue

As more nations around the world recognize the need to improve accessibility, compliance in some areas is mandatory.

Australia made accessible transportation the legal standard and the EU is under pressure to
acknowledge that accessibility is a human right which must be rectified for the benefit of society.

Accessibility in Canada

The Ontario Human Rights Code has prohibited discrimination on the basis of disability for 25 years. A failure to provide persons with disabilities equal access to a facility or equal treatment in a service would constitute discrimination under the Code and can be the subject of a human rights complaint.

Hyperlight’s smart city accessibility solutions are providing a real way forward for people of all abilities and the cities that connect them.   We're excited about the future.