Transit Unplugged

“We need transit to not only survive the pandemic, but to thrive.”   Joining the Transit Unplugged podcast for this episode is David Kim, Secretary of Transportation for the State of California. David chats with Paul Comfort about CalSTA’s new high-speed rail project, the future of zero-emission buses, and his thoughts on autonomous vehicles.&...

“We have two projects that were always on our books and our capital improvement program, however with the Amazon decision, it did provide us with the ability to actually put those projects forward even quicker.”  On this episode of Comfort's Corner, part of the Transit Unplugged podcast, Pierre Holloman, Assistant Transit Bureau Chief at the Arling...

“In times of crisis, you tend to come up with more creative solutions when you want to deliver them quite quickly.”  Joining the Transit Unplugged podcast for this episode is Anne Graham, Chief Executive Officer of the National Transport Authority of Ireland. Anne chats with Paul Comfort about three major projects that the NTA is currently working on, includ...

“We’re trying to remind Congress that the pandemic’s everywhere. And transit is a national program. It's not a program in 15 largest cities in the country. It's a national program, and if we're going to be able to get votes in Congress to the numbers we need, members need to have a reason to vote for the transit in their communities.”  On this episode of Comfort's Corner, part of the Tra...

“It's not transport for the sake of it … it's got a purpose, and it's worth investing in for that purpose. And as habits change, we should adapt what transit is there for to address the issues.”  Joining the Transit Unplugged podcast for this episode is Sir Peter Hendy CBE, Chair of Network Rail. Sir Peter shares the story of his long and illustrio...

“Some of those agencies where we've brought microtransit in, they’ve heard about it, but they weren't really looking into how to implement it. We get it up and running within 30-60 days ... I think private contracting can bring that value and that innovation and flexibility to put new services and products in at a faster pace.”  On this episode of Comfort's Corner, part of the Transit Unplugg...

“Transit was very critical to me being able to live the American dream.”  Joining the Transit Unplugged podcast for this episode is Alex Wiggins, CEO of New Orleans Regional Transit Authority. Alex has had a long and storied career in the transit industry, and he shares how his past experiences have shaped how he leads today.  Alex also provides an in-depth look at how New Orleans RTA re...

“Our board made a decision very early on that if we could remove the barriers to use, more people would ride. They would frequent more businesses. They would spend more money… We think our ridership is 30% to 40% higher than it would have been with a fare, and it has totally changed the dynamic for how people view the system and its ease of use.” On this episode of Comfort's Corner,...

"We operate the longest driverless Metro system in the whole world currently. Unlike what you normally see around Europe, the far East, etc., our Metro stations are built more like five-star hotels, very fancy transport mobility hubs, that encourage people to use the different mobility services." Joining the Transit Unplugged podcast for this episode is Ahmed Hashem Bahrozyan,...

"We came together to form this Public-Private Partnership, where we were able to provide what will eventually be the largest on-demand publicly provided microtransit service in the country." On this episode of Comfort's Corner, part of the Transit Unplugged podcast, Joshua Schank joins Paul Comfort from Los Angeles to discuss his career in the transit industry. He talks about how the CEO created h...

"Bi-State Development is one of the few agencies set by a charter, by an act of Congress. We have a federal charter that notes the governance of Bi-State and allows for the interoperability of a transit system across two states, multiple jurisdictions, and multiple towns." Joining the Transit Unplugged podcast for this episode is Taulby Roach, the President & CEO of Bi-State Development. Taulb...

"Transport for London is probably one of the most integrated transport authorities in the world, in the sense that we not only planned for but also operate pretty much all of the public transport in the city. But crucially, we also are responsible for the planning for an operation of the road network." On this episode of Comfort's Corner, part of the Transit Unplugged podcast, Ben Plowden joins Pa...

"When we complete the six phases of the transit system in Tanzania, we expect to have more than 3,000 BRT buses in the city, and they will replace what we have currently, nearly 10,000 local buses." Joining the Transit Unplugged podcast for this episode is Ronald Lwakatare, Chief Executive of Dar Rapid Transit Agency (DART) in Tanzania. Ronald joined DART in January 2016 as Chief Executive and is...