Transit Unplugged

Welcome to season 5! Kicking off Season 5, Episode 1 we have a chat with Roger Helmy, Director of Product Management at Modaxo. Then Paul talks with regular contributor Mike Bismeyer about his Kindness is Cool campaign. We hear from Elea Carey on how to keep your messaging relevant and top of mind for riders. And finally, Paul and Tris talk about everything going on at APTA EXPO 2021. Paul will be...

This week's show is an edited re-broadcast of the UITP and Trapeze-sponsored Connected Journeys webinar from earlier this summer. Paul leads a discussion with: Abimbola Akinajo, CEO, Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA)  Ahmed Bahrozyan, CEO, Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) Djan Fanny, Director of Operations, AMUGA About what they are doing to promote public transit...

This is a very special Transit Unplugged News and Views. This week we not only hear from Katrina Heineking and W.C. Pihl from Transdev about autonomous vehicles, but Paul reveals all the things going on at APTA EXPO in a few weeks. In the news segment, Paul gives you all the details on what's going on with Transit Unplugged, Transit Unplugged TV, and the other places you can find him at APTA EXPO....

Paul travelled to Nashville, TN to talk with Nashville MTA CEO Steve Bland and his leadership team about all the improvements and innovations they've done in the past year. From safety to route planning to stations and stops, there is little that they haven't improved on. Which is, of course, music to our ears. This episode was also filmed for an upcoming episode of Transit Unplugged TV.  Peo...

One of the biggest challenges at transit agencies during the pandemic has been making sure there was enough money to stay in operation. In New Mexico, the Department of Transportation took a unique approach that underscores the spirit of cooperation we found throughout the transit industry. They funded the operating expenses for the 21 transit agencies in the state and were able to do that because...

As a woman in transit and the tech industry, it’s not every day that you get to see female leaders in transit share how they got to where they are today and the hurdles they had to overcome to do so. Transit has traditionally been a male-dominated industry; and years ago, it would’ve been rare to see a female CEO rise up the ranks. It’s inspiring that that’s no longer the case. On today’s episode...

More and more agencies are going green and reducing their carbon emissions. There are lots of ways to get there, but one that isn't talked about often is hydrogen fuel cell electric buses. Karl Gnadt of Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District is serious about going zero emissions. And truly zero emissions. In October his agency will open its solar-powered hydrogen generating and fueling complex and...

Julien Dehornoy, CEO of Yarra Trams , is responsible for the iconic Melbourne streetcar tram system. This is storied tram system has run continuously since 1884 and is the longest light rail system in the world. Which is a blessing and a curse. Julien wants to modernize the tram system to make it more efficient, more nimble, more accessible, and faster. But that's easier said than done when you're...

It's not often you get the results of a customer survey and the results clearly say, "we think you're doing great, can you do more of it please?". But that's what David Bruffy of Mountain Line Transit in Morgantown, West Virginia found when he got feedback from his community. And while his plans for helping his community, including microtransit and helping the unbanked in a universal fare program,...

Imagine starting your transit career as a driver when you were nineteen and then going on to launch an entirely new transit service for one agency and now at the helm to launch a revamped service for an up-and-coming transit agency. This is what Josh Baker of DASH (Alexandria Transit) has done in his career thus far with more great plans on the way. This is one of those "wow, that's amazing" inter...

This week on Transit Tech, Tris interviews Tyler Dvorak of Trapeze and Terry Bills of Esri about the how and why of using data at your agency. Combining data sets, especially spatial and demographic data, gives transit agencies tremendous decision making power. Learn why the agencies who most effectively use data to learn about customers and make decisions are also the agencies who are most succes...

This episode of Transit Unplugged In-Depth comes from the SUN Conference in Missoula, Montana. Paul sat down with Scott Bogren of CTAA , Ed Redfern of The Bus Coalition , Rich Sampson of SWATA , and Elea Carey to talk about the massive infrastructure bill that just passed the U.S. Senate. In this very special episode, Paul and the guests dive into why this bill could be a historic, watershed momen...

This week on Transit Unplugged News and Views we have two Newsmaker interviews. First Paul chats with John Seber Executive Director of the Central Indiana Regional Transport Authority (CIRTA) and they get into how John is helping the counties he serves work together and provide an integrated intercounty transit network. John also reflects on when he was working with Paul at WMATA and how a college...

This week Paul comes to you from the Bluegrass State and historic Louisville, Kentucky. Paul visited Carrie Butler, Executive Director of the Transit Authority of River City (TARC), in-person in her office in the former Union Station from the Louisville-Nashville rail line. You can read more about Paul's visit in his post on the Vontas blog .  Carrie started at TARC almost a year ago in the m...

This week on Transit Unplugged News and View we have the first Transit Tech segment. These will be monthly segments where we interview on new innovations in transit technology. This week Tris chats with Dr. Farrokh Mansouri, head of data science at Trapeze, about using machine learning and AI to predict how weather and traffic affect on-time performance. If you're interested in how Trapeze approac...

This week we wrap up our mini-tour of Latin America with Paul's conversation with Joubert Flores, Chairman of ANTPTRILHOS in Brazil. Joubert has been an integral part of the transit industry for over 45 years and his insights into where the transportation system in Brazil has been, and where it's going in the future, are essential listening for all transit agencies. To close out this pair of inter...

This week on the first episode of Transit Unplugged News and Views (what we use to call Comfort's Corner) Paul chats with Andrew Bata of UITP, North America . Paul and Andrew talk about Andrew's former role as Chief Innovator at New York MTA. He and Paul continue with his vision of the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead for transit agencies around the world. Elea Carey continues the threa...

The bustling city of Fortaleza could be a model for how operators, transit agencies, and cities can work together to deliver sustainable, technology-enabled public transit. This week Paul chats with Dimas Barreira is the president of SINDIONIBUS, a group of 17 transit operators serving the city of Fortaleza and the surrounding area. What's unique in Fortaleza isn't the close partnership between SI...

What do you do when you're given the reins of one of the biggest rail projects in history that's three years late and well over budget? How do you take something that has gone decidedly off the rails, back on track? For Mark Wild of Crossrail UK, it meant going back to the fundamentals of project management. He focused on grappling with the enormous complexity of the project, correcting things tha...

Paul's on vacation this week so our producer Tris Hussey is in the host's chair for this episode. News in this episode: Proterra goes public on the NASDAQ US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg highlights and thanks the transit industry for its work getting people vaccinated . Robert Yu was tapped as President and General Manager for Oahu Transit Services . Vince Pellegrin, COO of Metro Tra...

This week Paul chats with Naif Bin Hwail of Saudi Arabia's Transport General Authority (TGA) on how his agency built a structure to serve millions of people--including the millions visiting Mecca and Medina for the Haj--using bus, rail, and taxis. In his conversation with Paul, Naif Bin Hwail talks about developing bus rapid transit (BRT) in several cities and expanding the rail network to serve t...

This week on Comfort's Corner we have  two newsmaker interviews for you. First, we talk with Candace Moore of the Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority about how she's used asset management data to improve maintenance in her fleet of nearly 200 vehicles. Then we travel to Saskatoon, SK, and hear an excerpt from Cory Shrigley's ThinkTransit session on how they used real-time ridership data t...

" We want to promote caring commuting culture here, a gracious one, ... working together with everyday commuters to try and improve each other's commute." This week Paul talks with Jeremy Yap, Deputy Chief Executive for Public Transport, Policy and Planning for the Land Transport Authority, Singapore. In this wide-ranging interview, we learn how Singapore is creating and expanding a transit system...

Show notes: Welcome to Comfort's Corner for May 26th, 2021. This week on Comfort's Corner we have a special newsmaker segment with board members of the North American Transit Alliance (NATA) and the International Association of Public Transit (UITP) discussing the results of a new study on private contracting in public transit agencies. UITP completed the study on behalf of NATA and conducted inte...

This week Paul chats with Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi of the RAK Transport Authority in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. Ras Al Khaimah is the northernmost of the seven Emirates in the UAE and home to over 60 km of beaches, the world's longest zip line, and... A really innovative and integrated transit system. From buses to taxis, e-scooters and e-bikes to ferries, RAK Transport is creating a un...