Transit Unplugged

In this episode of Transit Unplugged, host Paul Comfort continues his Alaska adventure with Fairbanks, as part of his California and Alaska series. Paul starts with sharing his 12-hour train journey from Anchorage to Fairbanks through Denali National Park--which was nearly cancelled because of wildfires! In Fairbanks, he chats with Fairbanks transit leaders Michelle Denton, Corey DiRutigliano, and...

Imagine running a transit system where moose crossing the road in town is just your average day. Where winters are long, dark and cold, but summer is hot and has 22 hours of daylight. That's transit in Alaska. In this first of two episodes from Alaska, Paul Comfort takes us to Anchorage. This week you'll hear from Jamie Acton, Executive Director of Public Transportation, and Bart Rudolph, Transit...

Get ready for a packed episode as we welcome Henry Li, CEO of the Sacramento Regional Transit District (SacRT), to the show. Henry takes us behind the scenes of SacRT, sharing insights into the major initiatives currently shaping the future of transit in the region like students ride free program and transit oriented development (TOD). We'll dive into how transit-oriented development is transformi...

Today, Paul Comfort, Transit Evangelist and SVP/Chief Customer Officer at Modaxo, and Davey Kim SVP/Principal, National Transportation Policy and Multimodal Strategy, at WSP USA, join METRO’s Executive Editor Alex Roman. Topics include: Paul’s “The New Future of Public Transportation” book. The Federal Government’s Role in Funding Public Transit. Political Will to Replace Both the Federal and Stat...

In this episode of Transit Unplugged, host Paul Comfort interviews Dwight Ferrell, General Manager of SMART (Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation) in Southeastern Michigan. Dwight shares lessons from his lengthy career in public transportation, from a bus operator in Dallas to leading multiple transit agencies across the U.S. The discussion covers SMART's innovative service for...

Join Transit Unplugged host Paul Comfort as he dives into the critical issue of boosting post-pandemic transit ridership with Ron Kilcoyne. Ron is a seasoned transit professional with over 40 years in the industry, leading several transit agencies, and now a transit researcher and consultant. Ron and Paul explore some innovative solutions to increase ridership, emphasizing a 'three-legged stool' o...

Make sure you visit and subscribe to Lunch with Leon for great transit insights every week. https://audioboom.com/channels/5028700-lunch-with-leon Below are the original show notes: This week, Leon is joined by transport evangelist Paul Comfort and technology expert Simon Reed to discuss Paul’s latest book, The New Future of Public Transportation. Listen now for a deep dive into the hot topics in...

Here's a stat you don't hear every day: over the course of his career (so far), Adam Leishman has helped move over 1.8 billion people. Billion. With a "b." I guess that's what happens when you've worked in three of the top transit cities in the world: London, Singapore, and Hong Kong. In his conversation with host Paul Comfort, Adam talks about Hong Kong's transit model where transit companies ope...

In this episode Paul Comfort interviews Erick Van Wagenen, CEO of WeDriveU, formerly National Express. They discuss the transformation of National Express, the North American Transit Alliance, and the evolving role of contractors in public transportation. Additionally, Erick reflects on his 18-year career with WeDriveU, where he progressed from assistant general manager to CEO, and discusses the r...

Plus policing on the subway and upcoming transit conferences. Last week, New York Governor Kathy Hochul abruptly put a stop to New York City's planned congestion charges due to come into effect June 30th. This announcement took nearly everyone by surprise, critics and supporters alike, and this week we have Matthew Daus return as our guest to talk about this sudden change, what it means for the Ne...

While in Halifax, Canada filming Transit Unplugged TV, Paul sat down with Dave Reage, Executive Director of Halifax Transit and First Vice Chair of the Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA) to talk about his transit system, testing their new electric buses, and building new ferry terminals for an electric ferry fleet (a first in Canada). Dave shares insights into Halifax's rapid growth, his ba...

This week Paul chats with Faye DiMassimo, CEO and Executive Director of Chatham Area Transit Authority (CAT) in Savannah, and soon to be Chief of Planning and Economic Development for the City of Savannah. Paul and Faye discuss the recent APTA Public Transit CEO Conference, Faye's career path (including recent promotion), and the innovations at CAT, including hybrid ferries, an electric microtrans...

Across North America there are four fundamental issues facing transit agencies: Getting enough buses Getting enough people to fix and drive the buses Getting enough funding to keep running the buses Getting (cyber)secure The bus manufacturing crisis is forcing many transit agencies to get creative at keeping buses running longer. Workforce shortages mean agencies are getting creative at finding an...

Transport for London (TfL) covers every transport means possible from the iconic red double-deck buses to The Tube to trains and even ferries. Which means the person in charge of it all has a lot going on at any given moment. Andy Lord, Commissioner for TfL spent over 25 years in aviation before coming to transit in 2019 to run The Tube with then Commissioner Andy Byford. Sitting down with Paul, A...

This week we're celebrating the release of Paul's newest book, The New Future of Public Transportation , which is the sequel to The Future of Public Transportation published early in 2020. To say public transport faced an crisis or inflection point in the past four years is an understatement. In this updated edition, Paul collected essays by 30 transit leaders from around the world covering every...

In a previous episode we talked about SEPTA's innovative SCOPE (Safety, Cleaning, Ownership, Partnership, and Engagement) program -- https://transitunplugged.com/transit-unplugged-podcast/how-septa-is-making-a-difference-in-the-lives-of-vulnerable-people/ -- and how it was helping the city's most vulnerable people. This week we get the big picture from the woman at the head of it all. Emily Yates...

Transit Unplugged, the world's leading podcast for transit professionals, is hosted and produced by Modaxo SVP and transit evangelist Paul Comfort. Each week, Paul sits down with public transit leaders from around the world to talk about their agencies, how they're facing current challenges, their thoughts on the future of public transit, plus insights into their careers and their approaches to le...

Welcome to episode 300 of Transit Unplugged! When Paul started the podcast in November 2017, I don't think anyone would have thought that seven seasons later we'd be at our 300th episode. Paul started this podcast to shine a light on the impact of transit on society and give transit leaders a chance to talk about their agencies and their careers, unfiltered and unplugged. Throughout the pandemic P...

Justin Stuehrenberg GM of Madison Metro and his team used COVID as the impetus to finally put a long-planned system redesign into motion and completed it in June 2023. Since then they've seen a 15% increase in ridership. Justin and Paul talked about how his new network works, how geography figured into it, and the new bus rapid transit (BRT) lines coming soon that will use battery electric buses c...

In this special episode we have guest host, and past guest, Dr. Kaan Yildizgoz hosting a live CEO roundtable from the Modaxo booth at the UITP MENA Transport Congress and Exhibition. Kaan is joined by: Renée Amilcar: President of UITP & General Manager of OC Transpo, Canada Abdulla Al Marzouqi: Director General – Integrated Transport Centre (ITC), Abu Dhabi Mohammed Obaid Al Mulla: Member of t...

Usually on Transit Unplugged we bring you the voices and stories of transit leaders from around the world, but this week we have something a little different. Join Paul as he sits down with Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt to talk about transit, politics, and changing how people view public transit in his city. As David describes it, like many cities West of the Mississippi, Oklahoma City was planne...

Update July 31, 2024: This podcast episode, the companion podcast episode, and the Transit Unplugged TV episode were honored with a Spotlight Award by the South West Transit Association. More info here: https://transitunplugged.com/transit-unplugged-2024-spotlight-award/ We kicked off 2024 with an episode with Rep. Earl Blumenauer-- https://transit-unplugged.captivate.fm/portland-streetcar --who c...

Update July 31, 2024: This podcast episode, the companion podcast episode, and the Transit Unplugged TV episode were honored with a Spotlight Award by the South West Transit Association. More info here: https://transitunplugged.com/transit-unplugged-2024-spotlight-award/ Frank White III is a strong advocate of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) and has a track record of making it happen. He oversa...

Welcome to another special edition of Transit Unplugged featuring an episode from another transit podcast. This time we welcome past guest Brandon Bartneck with an episode from The Future of Mobility featuring autonomous vehicle visionary Larry Burns. The episode was released in August 2023. The original show notes are below: Aug 2023 https://brandonbartneck.com/futureofmobility/larryburns2/ Larry...

Hydrogen is one of the hottest topics in transit right now, but hydrogen is facing a huge challenge to reduce its cost and increase its availability across North America (and the world). Paul sits down with Stark Area Regional Transit Authority (SARTA) CEO Kirt Conrad--who manages the largest fleet of hydrogen fuel cell buses outside California--and Ballard Power Systems Dir of Market Development...