Mobility Innovators Podcast

Public transit agencies are grappling with various challenges, from managing increasing ridership to enhancing the customer experience and ensuring improved accessibility. In response to the post-pandemic world, Uber has adjusted its strategy, focusing on solving these problems by offering services such as micro-transits, paratransit, first and last-mile connectivity, and late-night outage assistance. With partnerships spanning over 60 transit agencies globally, Uber is at the forefront of addressing these challenges and driving a more connected transportation ecosystem. In North America, Uber is placing emphasis on micro-transit and paratransit services, while in Europe, the company is collaborating with first and last-mile providers. As we look ahead to the emergence of autonomous mobility, it becomes crucial for transit agencies to partner with different stakeholders to continually improve the customer experience.

In this episode, we dive into the evolution of the ride-hailing or on-demand industry, which has transformed the mobility landscape. Initially seen as a competitor to traditional taxis and public transportation, it quickly led to the emergence of new partnership opportunities that reshaped the way we travel.

Jen Shepherd is the Global Head of Uber Transit. She is responsible for overseeing the development and expansion of the Uber Transit feature, which allows users to plan and pay for public transportation trips within the Uber app. This includes working with transit agencies and other partners to integrate their services into the app, as well as ensuring that the user experience is seamless and intuitive. Under her leadership, Uber has expanded its transit offerings to more cities and has continued to invest in the development of the Uber Transit feature. She has more than 15 years of experience in strategy and technology. Prior to joining Uber, she worked at Deloitte, Walt Disney, and Starbucks.

Mid-size transit agencies play a crucial role in providing accessible and affordable transportation options to communities worldwide, especially in areas with lower population densities and limited resources. In the United States, the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) is one such agency that operates around 350 buses on 42 routes, serving over 20 million riders annually. COTA faces a unique set of challenges, such as securing funding for capital projects and operations, optimizing routes using technology and data analysis, and attracting and retaining ridership. However, the agency has taken innovative measures to address these challenges, such as implementing a creative funding model to support transit services and investing in various capital projects, including bus rapid transit, on-demand mobility, and technology. These initiatives and practices make COTA a reference point for other transit agencies looking to innovate and improve their services.

Joanna Pinkerton is President and CEO of the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA). COTA is the public transit agency that serves the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area, providing transportation to nearly 19 million passengers annually. She assumed the role in April 2018, becoming the second woman to lead the organization in its history. Under her leadership, COTA has focused on improving service for customers, including increasing the frequency of buses on high-demand routes and launching new programs like COTA Plus, a micro-transit service that provides on-demand transportation within certain zones in the Columbus, Ohio area. Prior to joining COTA, she served as the Chief Operating Officer for the Transportation Research Center. She also held several leadership positions at The Ohio State University and the Ohio Department of Transportation. She is a strong advocate for public transportation and its role in promoting economic development and social equity.

The digital mapping industry is currently experiencing a significant revolution marked by the emergence of location technology companies. These companies are harnessing inputs such as GPS, geolocation, mapping, and navigation to develop innovative solutions for various industries, including transportation, logistics, and retail. With a shift in focus from "route optimization" to "resource optimization," location-based technologies offer numerous use cases that can significantly enhance operational efficiency. Furthermore, with API integration, operators can seamlessly integrate location-based data with their existing ERP systems, enabling them to add a business layer to their operations. This integration allows for better data management and improved decision-making capabilities.

Ajay Bulusu is the co-founder of NextBillion.ai, a startup that provides mapping solutions using artificial intelligence for the mobility and logistics industry. Before starting NextBillion.ai, he was leading Geo Data Operations Team at Grab and was working as Senior Director Of Product. He also worked as a product manager at Google and led the development of several key products, including Google Flights and Google Assistant. Ajay is known for his expertise in AI and is part of the Forbes Tech Council. He is also featured as Fortune 40U40.

Public transit agencies are facing an increasingly complex and rapidly changing environment. Factors such as changing demographics, evolving customer needs, and technological advancements are driving the need for public transit agencies to be more agile and innovative in their approach. In order to stay relevant and competitive, transit agencies need to be able to quickly adapt to new trends and emerging technologies, while also providing reliable and efficient service to their customers. This requires a willingness to experiment with new ideas, embrace new technologies, and develop new business models that can help them better meet the needs of their customers. Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) is a mid-size public transportation agency that provides bus service in the Greater Cincinnati area and emerging as one of the innovative transit agencies in the US. The agency has already achieved 85% recovery rate and is now looking to expand its services even further.

Khaled Shammout is Chief Strategic Planning, Development, and Innovation Officer at Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA). He is responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of the agency's technology and data-driven strategies. He also leads the development of SORTA's long-term strategic plan and works to enhance the agency's customer experience. Prior to SORTA, he worked with different agencies in the US including Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA), Jacksonville Transportation Authority (JTA), and Palm Beach County. He was also the Chief of the Bus Transit Team at Makkah Mass Rail Transit.

The automotive industry is currently experiencing a once-in-a-century transformation. With the advent of digitalization and connectivity, there is a massive opportunity for growth in the industry, which will be further fueled by artificial intelligence (AI) as it works with the data created by digitalization. The ability to upgrade vehicles' software will be a significant opportunity for manufacturers, as it will provide greater flexibility for consumers. In addition, the emergence of new modes of transportation, such as ride-hailing and micromobility, will offer more options for riders, ultimately changing the way we move for the better. Micromobility sector is going through a rough phase but regulatory push fosters the adoption of technology. Startups looking to capitalize on this transformation should focus on the end-use and end-users economics and utilization, rather than solely on their product.

Sebastien Bihari is the General Partner of Vektor Partners. The fund has reached a first close of EUR 50 million and looking to raise EUR 125 million. The fund invests in early-stage startups in the mobility sector, focusing on software, AI /machine learning, and data-driven business models. Prior to launching the fund, he was the Managing Director, Head of Automotive Investment Banking EMEA with BNP Paribas, and Executive Director / SVP, M&A at Moelis & Company. He is a global citizen and lived and worked in many countries.

Public transit ridership is recovering slowly and has reached an average 80% of the pre-pandemic level. However, it is important to highlight that different countries are in different recovery phases. Secondly, the riders traveling patterns have changed and there are more riders on weekends, and peak hours are flattened. Public transit agencies need to adjust to this changing behavior. On the other hand, transit agencies around the globe are facing challenges with staffing as there is a shortage of drivers and workers. Thus, the role of planning and scheduling has become more critical to provide services to riders. Transit agencies will face new challenges with the induction of electric buses as the buses will have a limited range. Thus, the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning will allow transit agencies to build dynamic schedules. Further, on-demand mobility can complement fixed-line services. This episode will share the story of Optibus and how the company is helping to digitalize public transit agencies.

Amos Haggiag is the CEO and co-founder of Optibus, a cutting-edge software platform that powers complex public transportation operations in more than 2,000 cities worldwide. Before co-founding Optibus in 2014, Amos led the development of large-scale personalization engines as a senior software development engineer at Microsoft and designed machine learning algorithms at Siemens. He is the recipient of several prestigious math and technology awards, including the Intel Prize (for software engineering), the Elkin Prize (for information technology) and the Wolf Prize (for mathematics).

The mobility and transportation sector has gone through a major transformation in the last decade, with the emergence of many new mobility options like shared mobility and e-scooters for passengers. We will see the emergence of many new modes including autonomous shuttles and urban air mobility. Mobility as a Service (MaaS) was the buzzword but failed to fulfill the promise. However, MaaS 2.0 is emerging as a potential disruptor mainly due to two factors – MaaS operators are following B2B / B2G approach to achieve mass adoption. Secondly, the operators have the basic infrastructure in place which will help to integrate them easily. Further, there is an opportunity to integrate MaaS app with other stakeholders including airlines, hotels, airports, etc.

Guillermo Campoamor is the Co-founder and CEO of Meep. He has a background in the legal and corporate sectors but now building a mobility tech startup. This clearly demonstrates his ability to manage diverse teams and build complex products in the mobility space. He founded Meep in 2017 with the aim of changing the mobility paradigm and shifting to a more adaptable and sustainable way of moving around cities. Meep is building MaaS application and working with 20 cities in 5 countries.

The role of the public transit sector will evolve in the future as people are looking for better customer experience and real-time updates. The pandemic has negative impact on the public transit sector across the globe. However, the North American region is still lagging behind in the recovery. Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocated $108 billion to support public transportation programs, including $91 billion in guaranteed funding. This funding has helped cities to launch various pilots including electric/fuel cell buses, autonomous vehicles, and MaaS. The emergence of new mobility options including urban air mobility and autonomous vehicles will change the landscape. Mobility will become more individualized.

Paul Comfort is a Transit Evangelist and has spent his career in government and public transportation. He is currently working as SVP and Chief Customer Officer at Modaxo. He worked as County Administrator for two suburban counties in Maryland. Later, he worked as CEO of Maryland Transit Administration (MTA). He has also worked in business development and operations management for many public and private transit operations. He is the author of four books – “The Future of Public Transportation” and “Conversations of Equity and Inclusion in Public Transportation”. Also the popular host of “Transit Unplugged Podcast”.

Autonomous mobility will play a major role in reshaping cities. Industry predicted that autonomous vehicles would be providing services and were available on our streets by 2021. However, the industry is still not closer to market deployment. Autonomous vehicles are already in the phase of disillusionment under Gartner Hype Cycle for connected and smart mobility. The industry will see upper movement from this level. User acceptance and perception of autonomous vehicles will have a big impact on large-scale adoption. According to Lloyd’s Register Foundation, only 27% of the global population would accept or believe that this technology is safe. The cities and authorities have a big role to support the new technology deployment. European Commission (EU) followed the right approach to fund the pilots and demonstration of new technologies.

Guido di Pasquale is the Managing Director of PAVE (Partners for Automated Vehicle Education), a coalition of industry, non-profit and academic institutions. The key mission of PAVE is to inform the public about automated vehicles and their potential. Prior to joining PAVE Europe, he was working as Deputy Director of Knowledge and Innovation at UITP. He has 20 years of experience in the transport and automation field, specializing in Intelligent Transport Systems, Automated Mobility, integrated mobility, research and innovation, strategy, and policy. He was involved in many EU projects including SPACE Project (Shared Personalised Automated Connected vhEicles), Shift2Rail GoF4R (Governance of the Interoperability Framework for Rail and Intermodal Mobility), AUTOPILOT (Automated Driving progressed by the Internet of Things), IMOVE (Accelerate deployment and unlock the scalability of MaaS schemes in Europe and GALILEO FOR MOBILITY (Fostering the adoption of Galileo for MaaS).

The mobility sector is undergoing a major transformation. The automotive industry is investing more in digital transformation, electric vehicles, and autonomy. There are many attempts done in the past too. However, these changes will really happen, and we will see that scaling which we are talking about is it's mostly that we think three things are coming together - Technology, Consumer Needs, and Regulation. There is a big shift in consumer behavior to use different mobility options.

Timo Möller is a Partner and Co-Leader of the McKinsey Center for Future Mobility focusing on strategic questions about the several disruptive trends affecting the mobility industry and the new business opportunities. In his leadership role at the McKinsey Center for Future Mobility, Timo focuses on strategic and operational questions about the disruptive trends in the mobility industry: connectivity, autonomous driving, electrification, and shared mobility. He also follows the next-horizon trends and analyses the potential application of these technologies in the mobility ecosystem, e.g., applied AI, Cloud & Edge Computing.