Hey everyone,
I want to talk about a project I've been contributing to called Radzi. It's probably one of the most meaningful things I've worked on, because it sits at the intersection of something I genuinely care about (getting outside, walking, cycling) and a real gap that needed addressing.
Radzi is a product under Be Confident Group, and I'm working on it as one of the engineers alongside another developer on the team.
Where the idea came from
Here in the UK, active travel (walking and cycling as everyday transport, not just exercise) is a big topic. Councils are investing in cycle lanes and pedestrian zones, but a lot of the time the infrastructure just doesn't match what people actually need. Routes feel unsafe, surfaces are poor, and the data councils use to make decisions is often outdated or too high-level to be useful.
At the same time, there's no great way for people to connect around shared active travel goals. You might want to challenge your colleagues to a walking challenge, or get your local community group to cycle to work together, but the tools for that are either too fitness-focused (think Strava) or not community-oriented at all.
Radzi is an attempt to solve both of those things at once.
What Radzi does
The core of the app is pretty straightforward:
- Track your walks and rides — log your cycling routes and walking activity as you go
- Earn trophies and hit milestones — progress tracking with achievements to keep you motivated
- See your trips on a map — all your journeys in one place, with route history
- Rate routes and report issues — leave feedback on street safety, road conditions, or infrastructure problems; report things like potholes or broken traffic lights
- Join communities and groups — whether that's a workplace, a neighbourhood, or an interest-based group, set shared goals, share achievements, and climb a leaderboard together
The last two points are what make Radzi genuinely different. Every piece of feedback and route data (anonymised) feeds into a view that local councils can use to make better planning decisions. It's a two-way relationship: users get a better experience and a sense of community, and councils get ground-truth data from the people actually using the streets.
Where things are at
The app is currently in beta. You can join the waitlist at radzi.com if you're interested. Early users are helping shape the direction of features, so if you're into cycling or walking and want to be involved, I'd genuinely love to have you.
Working on this as part of a team has been a different kind of challenge for me. More product coordination, more thinking about two very distinct user groups (everyday users and council stakeholders), and a lot of interesting engineering decisions along the way.
More updates to come as we move through the beta and toward full launch.
Ashkan